TRC Safety Bulletin Vol. 1

Primary Hazard Focus: Work Area Protection

Something to learn for all lines of work. Safety topics, trends, known hazards and best practices for use in tailboards to help keep yourselves safe.

WHAT WE’VE NOTICED

AT-RISK BEHAVIORS

• Lacked traffic control on jobsite where work being performed could possibly injure someone

• Spotter did not remain in place until the equipment cleared all surrounding potential hazards

• Due to the slope that equipment and vehicle are being either parked are staged, it is recommended as a “best safe work practice” to chock the wheels to prevent unwanted movements of equipment / vehicles at this location

We distribute this publication with heavy hearts, as we recently lost a Vegetation Management colleague to a work area protection incident. This topic is one we have covered before, but we re-visit it in honor of our fallen colleague.

HISTORY TELLS US …

Stop. Slow. Detour. Merge. Who travels on which side. When and where drivers can continue their journey. People’s lives are often interrupted when we do our collective part to control all that we can on or around a jobsite.  We do it because the work being performed puts the public and our crews at risk. It’s your job. It’s the right thing to do. It’s in everyone’s best interest. So it can be frustrating that given all those things, something still goes wrong. When you factor in the human element –it all makes sense.

Many drivers are annoyed by the disruption to their route. Other drivers simply don’t pay enough attention to the road. Exceeding the posted speed limit through a work zone is a common occurrence. Motorists or cyclists thinking they can go through the cone zone is also all too common. No one ever seems to appreciate the design or safety implications of good temporary traffic control (TTC).

The Federal Highway Administration surveyed drivers just after driving through a worksite to learn what was their actual perspective on and understanding of the situation.

Here is what they found:

• 2 out of 10 drivers did not see the flagger at all

• 1 out of 10 who DID see the flagger, had no idea what they were trying to communicate

• 1 out of 10 said they did not understand what the signs meant

• 1 out of 10 drivers said they saw the speed limit, but drove faster anyways

• 5 out of 10 said that going through the work zone seemed like a hazardous condition, needing extra caution (The other 5 said it did not make them feel cautious at all.)

There you have it -up to 50% of drivers passing through a typical work zone may have no idea what is going on, know how to react, or choose not to comply with work zone requirements.  Third-party driver behavior is not under your control when you are on the job site, which why each of us must make our personal and crew safety the priority.

Use proper procedure.
Wear appropriate PPE.
Be alert with every task.
Do all you can do to avoid an incident.
No one can ask more than that.

Be intentional about your safety…you can’t count on anyone else to do it for you.

• What are the lighting requirements for flaggers’ stations if we’re working in the dark?
• If you’ll be responsible for TTC or are a flagger today, have you been properly trained, according to standards?
• What is the importance of facing oncoming traffic when in or around the cone zone or being a flagger?
• What is the best method of communication for our flaggers?
• How much space can we leave between our vehicle and the cones for a walking path?
• Did we define our traffic control plan? Will we merge lanes? Divert traffic around our work area? Use stop/slow paddles?
• How can we prepare for the unexpected? Like a third-party motorist with a medical emergency who loses control?
• If one of our flaggers encounters a hostile driver, what is our protocol?
• How will we warn each other if a vehicle is in or is going

Talk about it: What’s a task I normally do on auto pilot that I can tell myself to be more engaged in?

Comments or questions? Contact: ContractorSafety@sce.com

No matter the type of work you do, there is always something to learn from shared events.

INCIDENT:January 22, 2020    Serious Injury/Fatality

Image from actual accident.

A crew had completed hazardous tree removal activities for the day and was in the process of demobilizing from the work location. Traffic controls were in place around the jobsite, including flagmen on either side of the work zone at a bend in the two-lane road. The posted speed limit was 35mph with one lane of travel in each direction.

A third-party vehicle (larger pickup truck) approached the work zone from the rear and was stopped by the flagmen. When given the sign to proceed “SLOW,” the vehicle was diverted into the opposite, oncoming traffic lane. The driver reportedly took off at a high rate of speed through the work site and as he drove through, the vehicle passenger mirror struck a crewman on the head. The impact knocked off the crewman’s hard hat, pushed him to the ground and the crewman’s head struck the ground hard with no protection.

Sadly, the crew man succumbed to his injuries.

INCIDENTS / CLOSE CALLS 2017 –PRESENT  Related incidents selected for this publication

INCIDENT SUMMARIES

2019

• Employee was picking up traffic cones near his truck after work was complete when a third-party vehicle sideswiped the employee’s truckand broke off the side mirror.

• As a foremen parked on the side of the road, a vehicle swerved into the side of the foreman’s vehicle and damaged both vehicles.

• A worker using stop and go paddles attempted to stop trafficwhen a postal third-party vehicle refused to stop and proceeded through the site.As the vehicle passed through, the worker was struck in the shoulder by the external rear-view mirror of the third-party vehicle.

2018

• A contractor providing traffic control support was struck by a car that drove around stopped traffic.

• A contractor stopped traffic so a backhoe could safely collect the spoil. Three vehicles had already been stoppedwhen a fourth vehicle drove around the stopped vehicles. The flagger noticed that the fourth vehicle was coming up to the work area and tried to stop itbut the vehicle was traveling at such a high rate of speed that the flagger had to jump out of the way to avoid being struck. The car then collided with the backhoe that was scooping up the spoil.

2017

• A line crew had traffic control set up per their road closure permit.  Workers were prepping to install a pole when a passenger vehicle drove through the cone zone and came to rest on the right side tire of the trailer.

• An argument broke out between two third-party groups in two separate vehicles in front of a job site. Persons exited one of the vehicles and brandished firearm at other third-party vehicle. The fleeing vehicle drove up the curb and through the work zone.Only traffic control signs and cones were damaged.

• Employee was stepping up into line truck to operate upper boom controls. As he stepped up into the truck, a third-party vehicle was driving past the job site and the passenger mirror hit employee’s left elbow. Traffic control had signs and cones around job site

Think about it:If I drove our TTC set-up, would it make sense to me?

Resources and fresh ways to test your knowledge of this week’s topic.

Transportation incidents and workers struck by vehicles or mobile equipment account for the highest number of fatal work injuries, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

IMMEDIATE STEPS TO BE TAKEN

Pending a complete cause evaluation of the recent incident, the following immediate actions have been instituted by Edison Safety to protect workers in traffic areas:

• When using traffic control personnel to control traffic flow past a work zone, we will hold traffic from all directions while traffic control devices (e.g. ,safety cones, tubular markers, etc..) are set up to establish the work zone, or while traffic control devices are removed to break down the work zone. This will control vehicles traveling in the immediate area of our workers while placing or removing traffic control markers to keep them from being exposed to the passing traffic risk.

• When using traffic control personnel to control traffic flow past a work zone, traffic will not be permitted to pass through a work zone if any individual is working on the demarcation (repositioning cones) or is present, for any reason or duration, outside of the established work zone or if the work zone needs to be expanded or reduced by repositioning the cones.

• When traffic control personnel are not being utilized to control traffic, but the crew still uses traffic control devices (e.g., safety cones, tubular markers, etc.) to establish a work zone, we will expect workers to face oncoming traffic when placing or removing these traffic control devices to prevent the risk of being struck from behind.

Critical Observable Actions (COAs)

COAs are visible actions or conditions that mitigate a primary hazard. We have found the following COAs to be either the root cause or a causal factor of serious incidents when neglected. Help us help you -Review them. Commit them to memory. Follow them.

Assign responsibilities to ensure:

• Appropriate traffic control (cones, signs) are in place

• Traffic control is effective for the conditions (Confusion is very dangerous, especially when it comes to moving vehicles. Pedestrians should be diverted around the site or escorted through.)

• Crews working adjacent to traffic have appropriate high visibility clothing

• There is proper communication amongst flaggers

• The correct advanced warning signs are set-up prior to cones or equipment being placed in the lane of travel

• Stop / Slow paddles are used when flagging traffic

• There is an effective escape route for those exposed to traffic (Vehicles intrude into work zones all the time.  Thus, each worker should have a path of escape. In addition, crews should have a method of warning each other should an errant vehicle enter the work zone.)

• When possible, place vehicles in the immediate path of travel as an added barrier

• Load materials and equipment from the curb side of the construction site to minimize exposures on the traffic side

• Tailboard with the crew members managing traffic. (Confirm everyone knows how traffic control will be set up, how pedestrians will be managed, means of communication and safe methods of ingress and egress into the zone.)

• In the event there is a full road closure, the permit holder should ensure that all contract and 3rd party personnel are cleared of the roadway that may have entered the controlled traffic zone prior to communicating to traffic controllers that the road is clear.

Answers are at the bottom of the page.

Take it seriously:Follow through, even with the “small stuff.”

You never know when it will matter.

Comments or questions? Contact: ContractorSafety@sce.com

Answers: 1. motorists, cyclists and pedestrians 2.warning signs, flaggers and high visibility 3.Two-way radio 4. line of sight 5. control plans