What can be done to make work zones safer?

Imagine working in your office and a vehicle suddenly crashes through it at high speed, killing several of your co-workers.

“It’s inconceivable, but not so for our road work crews,” Chesapeake Region Safety Council President David G. Madaras writes in a letter to the editor published in this issue of Safety+Health.

Nearly 1,000 people were killed in roadway work zone crashes in 2021 – the most recent year for which data is available, according to the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse. That’s the largest yearly total since the clearinghouse was established in 2011.

“We’ve seen trends going in the wrong direction in terms of number of crashes and the severity of those crashes,” said Teri Soos, acting deputy administrator/chief engineer of operations at the Maryland State Highway Administration. “This is a topic of national concern. For safety professionals and the people they come into contact with, it’s trying to instill that culture of safety.”

‘The most vulnerable’

Soos and her colleagues at the Maryland Department of Transportation are working to change the tide as the 2024 sponsor of National Work Zone Awareness Week – set for April 15-19. 

This year’s theme: “Work zones are temporary. Actions behind the wheel can last forever.”

Those actions include speeding, driving impaired and driving distracted.

Throughout National Work Zone Awareness Week, roadway construction employers and workers are encouraged to focus on training and promote the importance of work zone safety by talking to family members and friends and reinforcing best practices on the job. 

Safety tips for roadway workers from the National Safety Council include:

• Watch for nearby drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Wear high-visibility protective clothing, a hard hat and steel-toed shoes.
• Use warning signs and temporary traffic barriers to create a safe buffer between workers and traffic.
• Design work zones in a way that reduces or eliminates the need for vehicles to back up.

The driving public can help workers stay safe, too. The Chesapeake Region Safety Council is encouraging everyone to go online and take Work Zone Safety Pledge – available on the chapter's website – to slow down, move over and pay attention in and around work zones. 

Tech trends and legislation

In Maryland, new tools have made it possible to enhance and further examine work zone safety.

For instance, the state has adopted technology that sends an alert to drivers via a GPS app when they’re approaching an incident response vehicle.

Last summer, Maryland piloted an automatic flagger device – a mechanical arm that can be operated from a tablet. “The operators don’t have to put themselves in harm’s way,” Soos said. 

Additionally, the state conducted a pilot project to study the accuracy of a “point-to-point system” in work zones. The system monitors vehicles’ speed throughout the work zone.

State lawmakers have also introduced the Maryland Road Worker Protection Act of 2024 (H.B. 513 and S.B. 479), which would increase to $290 from $40 the fine for speeding in a work zone, distribute a portion of the fines collected to highway and work zone safety projects, and adjust current law to clarify that a work zone speed control system can be manned or unmanned and that a system operator doesn’t need to be present when it’s in use.

A work group in the state, which included Lt. Gov. Aruna Miller (D), convened more than two dozen stakeholders to develop 28 recommendations for improving work zone safety. Among the recommendations:

• Increase the presence of state police in work zones
• Implement buffer lanes
• Develop awareness campaigns that include “high-profile” leaders, billboards and informational fliers
• Enhance driver education

“Workers are the most vulnerable people [in work zones] because they’re not in a vehicle,” Soos said. “We want people to respect the people who come to work every day on the side of the road.”