Workers in road crews and on road construction sites have to possess incredible situational awareness. Hazards that are present for construction workers on active roadways can be particularly deadly. Oncoming traffic, construction vehicle traffic, elevated work, and poor visibility from environmental conditions all combine to create the need for specialized industrial products and industrial equipment supplies in order to ensure the safety of road crews.
To promote better awareness, foster communication, and protect workers, there are a number of industrial products. We will take a moment to examine the importance of high visibility industrial equipment supplies, transportation road signs, and caution signs for communicating hazards.
High Visibility Clothing
OSHA is steadily moving towards mandating high visibility clothing and safety vests as a requirement for all road crews and job sites that operate near traffic or have low-light working conditions. The reason for this is clear if we take a look at the numbers.
A worker wearing brightly colored clothing can be seen from about 250 feet away at night from the headlights of a vehicle. When that vehicle is traveling at highway speeds, it needs 1200 feet in order to stop. Clearly, workers at night without the proper high visibility industrial products are in danger.
Industrial equipment supplies for road construction workers have to include high visibility clothing and safety vests. The reflective material in these industrial products can return the light from a vehicle up to nearly a quarter mile, allowing enough reaction time and stopping distance for a motorist on a highway to avoid an accident.
High visibility industrial equipment supplies will also protect workers against accidents caused by construction vehicles on the job site. Construction crews have to work with the same environmental conditions, such as low light and dust clouds, that will obstruct a motorist's view. Having workers wear clothing that has a contrasting color and reflective strips will also reduce the hazard from construction vehicles.
Transportation Road Signs
Communication on a job site is also vital in ensuring a safe working site. Motorists and workers alike have to be aware of what is going on and how the construction site impacts the normal flow of traffic. Most people drive on the same roads that they take every day, so it is necessary to use ample road signs to inform them of how their route has changed.
Essentially, industrial equipment supplies and road signs should convey advanced warning, improved visibility, and control over a situation. Warnings will enable motorists to anticipate slower traffic, stopped vehicles, flag men or temporary stops, and changes in the flow of traffic. Road signs have to be highly visible at all times of the day and night, so reflective materials, flags, and road stands have to be used. Most construction sites do not have the benefit of being located at a controlled intersection. Transportation road signs have to offer that control through stop signs, reduced speed limits, alternating merges, and any other provision for controlling the flow of vehicles.
Road signs are the best way to accomplish these goals by communicating needed information to motorists.
Caution Signs
Communication is necessary on the job for the workers themselves in addition to motorists. Even in a warehouse, vehicle traffic mixes with workers on foot. Every worker should be aware of which areas on the job are open to vehicle traffic only, foot traffic only, or if both may be allowed in the same area, especially if there are temporary condition changes. Industrial products designed to foster communication between workers will also improve the safety culture with any work crew.
Forklift drivers should have caution signs up to remind them to sound their horn when coming around a corner or through a door. Construction vehicle traffic lanes should be painted for the benefit of both drivers and workers on foot. Any uneven surface, speed bump, or obstruction should be highlighted with caution signs and other industrial products. Any change in the work place, no matter how temporary, needs to be accompanied by warning signs.
The best way to incorporate these products into an effective method for communicating hazards is to look at a work site from the perspective of an outsider. Regular workers know where the hazards are, even if they are not apparent. However, caution signs and road transportation signs should be written as if someone has never set foot on a construction site before. Coupled with high visibility industrial equipment supplies, construction crews will have a comprehensive safety culture in place to address hazards and prevent accidents.
Greg Palmer is an author for Reid Supply, an industrial distribution company with a 60-year history supplying customers in all 50 states and over 40 countries with industrial products and industrial equipment supplies.
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