safety spotlight
Nine Expert Strategies to Prevent Struck-By Incidents Construction makes up less than 6 percent of the U.S. workforce, but accounts for 12 percent of struck-by injuries and 17 percent of struck-by fatalities. “The highway, street and bridge construction sector has the most fatalities of any other sector in the industry,” said Brad Sant, senior vice president at American Road and Transportation Builders Association (ARTBA). Additionally, struck-by fatalities increased from 73 in 2011 to 112 in 2018. There were an additional 16,050 non-fatal struckby injuries in 2018.
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Struck-by injuries are part of what the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) calls the Focus Four Hazards, along with fall hazards, caught-in-between hazards and electrical hazards. These are the four leading hazards and account for more than half of construction fatalities each year. According to a recent National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) survey, respondents said the biggest barriers employers face to prevent struck-by incidents include a lack of understanding/information (31 percent), scheduling pressure (25 percent), lack of training (20 percent), cost associated with controls (16 percent), and other (8 percent). Workers reported that the biggest barriers they experience include lack of training (30 percent), emphasis on production (28 percent), lack of management commitment (27 percent), lack of safer equipment/tools (8 percent), and other (7 percent). The first National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Struck-By Incidents was held earlier this year, coinciding with National Work Zone Awareness Week. During the StandDown, the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR) held a webinar of experts who shared a number of tips to prevent struck-by incidents in work zones. Here, we share some of their insights.
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1. Have an internal traffic control plan. According to Travis Parsons, associate director of occupational safety and health at the Labors Health Safety Fund of North America, half of all struck-by vehicle instances involve external traffic. That means the other half of these incidents are related to internal traffic controls. “In the road construction industry, we have a lot of people working in a small area,” said David Dostaler, vice president of safety at Kraemer North America LLC, Plain, Wisconsin. He said Kraemer’s number one strategy to prevent struck-by incidents, besides training, is their internal traffic control plan. “We cover flagging, parking, staging, communicating with all employees and subcontractors, and preventing overlapping activities.” “Part of your internal traffic control plan should be to look at when workers and vehicles have to interact so you can have the appropriate spotters, flaggers and safety programs,” Parsons said. And, he added, be sure everyone is properly trained on these controls and the processes from the beginning of the job to the end. Jerral Wyer, who had been the director of occupational safety and health at the Texas Department of Transportation until his retirement in 2018, reiterated the importance of teaching workers how to set up and maintain safety devices. Parsons also suggested separating workers from vehicles and heavy equipment whenever possible. He recognized that space may be limited on some projects, but “it’s best practice to do it whenever possible.” Establish a worker-free zone, especially in times when equipment or vehicles will be backing up more often than is typical. Better yet, he said, eliminate backing up as much as possible. This can be achieved by setting up the work zone smartly. 2. Be particularly cautious on night jobs. “Working at night is inherently more dangerous for several reasons,” Parsons said. The traveling public seems to drive faster at night and there are more big trucks on the road, he
said. “Research also shows that accidents are usually more severe if they happen at night.” According to David Fosbroke, a statistician in NIOSH’s Division of Safety Research, although there are more fatalities among construction workers during the day, there is also a lot more work happening during the day. “We know that nightwork presents specific challenges, so we need to look at those specific hazards and make sure we’re doing the right things to mitigate them as much as possible,” Fosbroke said. This might include reviewing the project lighting to prevent glare or adjusting the schedule to reduce worker fatigue as much as possible. 3. Prevent worker fatigue. “Fatigue affects cognitive ability, decision making ability, reaction time and situational awareness,” Fosbroke said. “When working in high-risk situations with traffic passing by or near heavy equipment, those mistakes can be deadly.” He suggests implementing a fatigue management program to review scheduling and ensure workers understand the contributing factors, signs and risks of fatigue, as well as how to manage fatigue on the job. For more information about establishing a fatigue management program, Fosbroke suggested reading the Transportation Research Board’s Guide to Identifying and Reducing Workforce Fatigue in Rapid Renewal Projects. Acting Director of NIOSH’s Office of Construction Safety and Health Scott Earnest continued, “Fatigue is not only important for workers themselves, but also drivers going through work zones.” 4. Use positive protection when possible. “When it comes to third-party motorists, we don’t have control over them,” Wyer said. “That’s where external traffic control is so essential to ensure we’re meeting or exceeding standards.” Fosbroke said positive protection is “the way to go” on long-term projects. The Federal Highway Administration defines positive
