NIOSH Recommends Methods for Preventing Injuries and Fatalities in Highway Work Zones

Each year, nearly 100 workers are killed and more than 20,000 are injured in highway and street construction, according to NIOSH report, "Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries from Vehicles and Equipment." Traditionally, job safety efforts in the industry have focused mostly on reducing the risk of workers being struck unintentionally by passing motorists. However, traffic-related injuries account for only half of work zone fatalities, NIOSH found. The other half result from workers being struck by construction vehicles and equipment inside the work zone.

Industrial Painting contractors performing maintenance or new painting on bridge structures as well as multi-contractor work sites routinely encounter potential traffic and construction vehicle hazards.

Current safety programs and government and industry standards do not provide comprehensive guidance to ensure worker safety. After extensive discussions with diverse stakeholders as well as its own investigations of work zone employee fatalities, NIOSH's new report suggests ways that employers, contracting agencies, policy makers, equipment manufacturers, workers, researchers, and others can fill existing gaps in safety.

Recommendations:

• As activities, work locations, and other conditions change in work zones, employers should continuously identify, evaluate, and mitigate hazardous conditions.
• All workers in highway construction zones, not just those who help direct traffic flow should wear high-visibility apparel.
• All workers on highway and street construction work zones should receive training specific to the hazards of being struck by moving construction vehicles and equipment.
• As a standard practice, contracting agencies should consider incorporating the costs of worker safety protection into bid specifications. Currently, safety-conscious contractors risk losing contracts because bids that include more comprehensive worker protection may be less competitive.
• Contractors, contracting agencies, policy makers, manufacturers, law enforcement officials, and the research community should work in partnership to prevent occupational injuries in work zones.
• Policy makers should work together to ensure that regulations from agencies with overlapping jurisdiction are compatible.
• Transportation safety and construction safety researchers should collaborate on work zone safety research. Because work zone safety involves both traffic and worker safety, the perspectives of both communities are needed to ensure that recommendations from one are compatible with those from the other.

To obtain a copy

"Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries from Vehicles and Equipment," DHHS (NIOSH) Publication No. 2001-128, is available at no charge either on the NIOSH Website, or by calling NIOSH toll-free at 1-800-35-NIOSH (1-800-356-4674).

Source: NIOSH Press Release, May 15, 2001.