SAFETY OF SMALL WORKGROUPS ON ROADWAYS

This project focuses on the risks to small workgroups at, for the most part, transient sites where formal safety controls are less elaborate than for large group, longer term work. The scope of the project includes all VicRoads employees who undertake some of their duties in close proximity to traffic. The safety measures that have been evaluated can be grouped into measures to reduce vehicle speeds; measures to increase the visibility of worksites; and measures to increase the visibility of workers. Observations of the behaviours of employees and measurements of the speed of passing traffic were made at a range of metropolitan and rural worksites. In addition, a survey of all VicRoads employees identified as working on or near the road was undertaken. It was concluded that work areas differ markedly in terms of exposure to risk, perceived hazards, types of safety measures in place and perceived effectiveness. Working alone or in very small groups was considered to be a high-risk activity because conspicuity of the worksite was generally low, speeds of passing traffic were generally not reduced and there was limited safety equipment. (a)

[1]  Dulcy M. Abraham,et al.  CONSTRUCTION WORK ZONE SAFETY , 2003 .

[2]  James A Misener,et al.  Roadway and Work Crew Conspicuity , 2000 .

[3]  IMPACT PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF WORK ZONE TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES , 2000 .

[4]  Steven D Schrock,et al.  Evaluation of Work Zone Speed Reduction Measures , 2000 .

[5]  Barry L. Cole,et al.  Conspicuity of traffic control devices , 1982 .

[6]  P. Mccoy,et al.  Long-Term Effectiveness of Speed Monitoring Displays in Work Zones on Rural Interstate Highways , 2001 .

[7]  Stephanie G. Pratt,et al.  BUILDING SAFER HIGHWAY WORK ZONES: MEASURES TO PREVENT WORKER INJURIES FROM VEHICLES AND EQUIPMENT , 2001 .

[8]  R. Isler,et al.  Testing the relative conspicuity of safety garments for New Zealand forestry workers. , 1997, Applied ergonomics.

[9]  Nicholas J Garber,et al.  CONTROL OF VEHICLE SPEEDS IN TEMPORARY TRAFFIC CONTROL ZONES (WORK ZONES) USING CHANGEABLE MESSAGE SIGNS WITH RADAR , 1995 .

[10]  Li Wang,et al.  SPEED-REDUCTION PATTERNS OF VEHICLES IN A HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION ZONE , 1992 .

[11]  Ginger Daniels,et al.  FEASIBILITY OF PORTABLE TRAFFIC SIGNALS TO REPLACE FLAGGERS IN MAINTENANCE OPERATIONS , 2000 .

[12]  E Meyer.  MIDWEST SMART WORK ZONE DEPLOYMENT INITIATIVE: KANSAS' RESULTS , 2000 .

[13]  J D Turner.  WHAT'S A WORK ZONE? , 1999 .

[14]  Conrad L Dudek,et al.  Work zone traffic management synthesis: selection and application of flashing arrow panels , 1989 .

[15]  J Hall,et al.  CONTROLLING VEHICLE SPEEDS IN HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION ZONES , 1997 .

[16]  C Sinadino,et al.  Influencing road user behaviour through roadworks , 1990 .

[17]  Jim Misener.  Evaluation of Work Crew and Highway Hazard Conspicuity , 1998 .

[18]  H G Hawkins,et al.  CATALOG OF EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS TO IMPROVE DRIVER AND WORKER SAFETY AT SHORT-TERM WORK ZONES , 2001 .

[19]  J. Canham,et al.  A matter of life or death. , 1985, Nursing times.

[20]  Paul J Carlson,et al.  EVALUATION OF TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES FOR RURAL HIGH-SPEED MAINTENANCE WORK ZONES: SECOND YEAR ACTIVITIES AND FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS , 2000 .

[21]  P. Carlson,et al.  WORK ZONE-RELATED TRAFFIC LEGISLATION: A REVIEW OF NATIONAL PRACTICES AND EFFECTIVENESS , 1997 .

[22]  Jon A. Epps,et al.  SUMMARY OF SHRP RESEARCH AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS OF WORK ZONE SAFETY , 1997 .

[23]  John F. Carney,et al.  NCHRP Report 350 Crash Test Results for Connecticut Truck-Mounted Attenuator , 1996 .

[24]  J W Hall,et al.  CHARACTERISTICS OF CONSTRUCTION-ZONE ACCIDENTS , 1989 .

[25]  Eric Meyer.  Evaluation of Two Strategies for Improving Safety in Highway Work Zones , 2000 .

[26]  Nawaz M. Shaik,et al.  Evaluation of Supplementary Traffic Control Measures for Freeway Work-Zone Approaches , 2001 .