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Highway Work Zones

photo of a highway work zone

Workers in highway construction work zones are exposed to risk of injury from the movement of construction vehicles and equipment within the work zones, as well as from passing motor vehicle traffic.

Flaggers and other workers on foot are exposed to the risk of

being struck by traffic vehicles or construction equipment; workers who operate construction vehicles or equipment risk injury due to overturn, collision, or being caught in running equipment. Highway workers, regardless of their assigned task, work in conditions of low lighting, low visibility, and inclement weather, and may work in congested areas with exposure to high traffic volume and speed.

(From:Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries from Vehicles and Equipment. NIOSH (DHHS) Pub. No. 2001-128. April 2001. (See below)

NIOSH Publication - Building 
	  Safer Highway Work Zones

Building Safer Highway Work Zones: Measures to Prevent Worker Injuries from Vehicles and Equipment. NIOSH (DHHS) Pub. No. 2001-128. April 2001. pdf document PDF version

Building Safer Highway Work Zones represents a collaborative effort between government, labor, the construction industry, manufacturers, and academia to address worker safety in highway work zones. Previous prevention activities by the traffic safety community have focused on protecting motorists traveling through work zones. The safety of workers, particularly those who must work on foot around construction vehicles and equipment, has received considerably less attention. To increase awareness of these hazards, NIOSH reviewed current highway safety literature, analyzed fatality and injury data, and convened a meeting of work zone safety stakeholders. This document is the result of those efforts. It presents complementary prevention measures to protect workers from hazards posed by construction vehicles and equipment as well as by traffic vehicles. These prevention measures are directed to varied stakeholders with interest in work zone safety--road builders and maintainers, contracting agencies, policy makers, and manufacturers--and address issues ranging from the contract award process to use of high-visibility apparel at work sites.

PRESS RELEASE (May 2001): CDC Report Suggests Ways to Prevent Injuries, Fatalities to Workers in Highway Work Zones

NIOSH Fatality Investigations Reports on Worker Deaths in Highway Work Zone

This link provides a list of reports of fatality investigations of incidents where workers in highway work zones were killed. These investigations were conducted under the NIOSH Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) program. Although most of the examples involve highway construction, a few cases that occurred in maintenance and utility work zones are also included.

 

(See also the Motor Vehicle topic page.)

 

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