Tag: vehicle

Driving Safety – Animals in the Road

Posted on by admin_ici
Originally published Sept. 16, 2015

Construction workers spend hundreds of hours on roadways, and even they are surprised when an animal darts out in the road.

One of the nation’s leading automobile insurers estimates that 1.23 million deer/vehicle collisions occurred in the United States between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012, costing more than $4 billion in vehicle damage. The average claim for a deer/vehicle collision during that time was $3,305 – up 4.4 percent from the previous year. Over the last four years, the number of deer-related claims paid by this insurer increased 7.9 percent, while other claims declined 8.6 percent. These included moving vehicles first-party, physical damage claims not caused by weather, criminal activity and fire. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety reports that deer/vehicle collisions in the United States cause approximately 200 fatalities and 29,000 injuries annually.

In addition to deer, drivers kill many other types of animals on Indiana roadways each year. Each incident has the possibility for human fatality as well. Signs that indicate animals may be close enough to the roadway to pose a safety hazard include:

  • Caution signs indicating animal crossings.
  • Animals close to the road. Many animals travel in groups. If you see one, there are likely more that you don’t see. Slow down, and stay alert.
  • Animal carcasses on the road could mean there are more animals nearby – particularly smaller animals like possums and raccoons scavenging for food.
  • Deer activity peaks from October to December, and nearly half of deer/vehicle collisions happen then. Fall is also a busy time for squirrels and other small animals to gather food and begin nesting for winter. Tree-lined streets become safety hazards when cars swerve to avoid these animals.

Tips to remember:

  • If an animal jumps in front of your vehicle, do not swerve. Brake firmly and calmly. Swerving can cause your vehicle to leave the roadway or hit an oncoming vehicle.
  • Nearly 90 percent of animal/vehicle collisions happen at dawn or dusk, so be especially alert during these low visibility times.
  • Remember to wear your seat belt every time you are in a vehicle. A properly worn seat belt can reduce injuries and possibly save your life in a collision.

Download a recording form here.

Safe Fueling Procedures

Posted on by admin_ici
Originally published 09/06/2016

The hazards involved with fueling equipment on a construction site include gas and fuel fires, spills, vapors and slips, trips and falls. Here are some precautions you should take to prevent a fueling accident:

Fueling Station

  • Keep a spill kit available, and train workers to use it.
  • Keep a fire extinguisher at the fueling station.
  • Set up fueling stations in well-ventilated areas.
  • Maintain all pumps, hoses and nozzles in accordance with manufacturer’s specifications.

Fueling Your Vehicle

  • Always concentrate on the task at hand.
  • Do not use electronic devices, such as cell phones while fueling, because a spark could ignite a fire.
  • Turn off the vehicle’s engine.
  • Before dispensing fuel into your vehicle, touch a metal part of your vehicle that is not close to the fuel tank. This helps dissipate any static buildup your body created when you slid out of your vehicle.
  • Never smoke while fueling. Also, make certain there are no other potential sources of ignition, such as open flames or spark-producing equipment operating in the area.
  • Do not overfill the fuel tank.
  • Allow for fuel expansion on hot days.
  • If you are refueling portable equipment such as lawn mowers, generators, chain saws, or anything else with a fuel-powered engine, let the engine cool down before you add fuel to the tank. Spilling fuel on a hot motor instantly creates a cloud of highly flammable vapor, which can easily catch fire or explode.
  • Use only safety cans or other approved portable fuel containers to transport or transfer fuel. Unapproved containers can leak, spill fuel or rupture.
  • Never dispense fuel into a can or other portable container while it is sitting in your vehicle or truck bed.
  • If you have a fuel spill:
    • Clean it up immediately using the appropriate spill kit.
    • Remove any clothing that has absorbed gasoline and thoroughly wash the fuel from your body.

Fuels can be highly flammable and, if handled improperly, these substances can make fueling equipment a dangerous task. Be aware of the hazards and follow the prevention steps to avoid an incident on your site.

Download the recording form here.

Emergency Vehicles in Work Areas

Posted on by admin_ici
Originally published Aug. 12, 2015

Workers learn to direct traffic in work zones by participating in flagger training programs and consulting the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which extensively cover signs, signals and the proper techniques for starting and stopping traffic. But there is rarely a discussion on what to do if an emergency vehicle needs to pass through your work zone.

Emergencies occur when we least expect them, and emergency vehicles seem to appear out of nowhere – moving quickly with lights flashing and sirens blaring. The sense of urgency associated with emergency vehicles can undermine flagger or traffic control manager confidence, and can possibly cause them to react rather than think before responding. These unplanned actions can cause accidents or unnecessary delays for emergency responders.

Before work begins, learn the locations of hospitals, fire and police stations in the vicinity of your work zone. If your work zone is on a road with direct access to first responders, emergency vehicles will inevitably drive through it. Here are some steps you can take when emergency vehicles travel through your work zone:

  • If you have enough time when you first see or hear an approaching emergency vehicle, stop traffic in all directions, and create a clear and visible path.
  • The flagger should signal the “all clear” to the emergency vehicle, allowing it to navigate through the zone with full right of way.
  • When you have no advance warning of an approaching emergency vehicle, the safest response is to stop the emergency vehicle first and then stop all other traffic to create a clear travel path.
  • You may also need to stop or clear construction equipment before you allow the emergency vehicle to pass.
  • Make advance arrangements with local police if the work you are doing, such as blasting or excavating, makes the roadway impassable.

Download a recording form here.

Internal Traffic Controls

Posted on by admin_ici
Originally published on Aug. 2, 2016

Internal traffic control plans detail how construction traffic should be set up inside the construction area so that vehicles and equipment are separated – as much as possible – from workers on foot. Pedestrian workers are those employees who perform most of their duties outside vehicles and equipment, and they are particularly vulnerable to being struck by equipment.

According to the Work Zone Hazards Workbook published by OSHA in 2008, “the majority of fatalities that occur in road construction work zones in the United States involve a worker being struck by a piece of construction equipment or other vehicle. A worker in this industry is just as likely to be struck by a piece of construction equipment inside the work zone as by passing traffic.”

Workers are at risk when:

  • They are preoccupied by their work and are not paying attention to what is going on around them.
  • They become comfortable in a dangerous environment.
  • They don’t have convenient access to and from their work space for restrooms, food and water, shade or breaks or other local work areas.

The purpose of an internal traffic control plan is the safety of all employees. An effective plan will inform all parties operating within the work site about the location of others, focus on worker safety within the work site, and establish “No On-foot Worker Zones” designed to minimize interaction between workers and vehicles.

Internal traffic control plans should:

  • Designate routes and operating procedures for large trucks delivering materials.
  • Create a traffic pattern to minimize backing.
  • Use temporary traffic control devices to mark traffic paths.
  • Facilitate communication among key work zone parties in advance of their arrival on the construction site.
  • Limit access points to the work zone.
  • Coordinate truck and equipment movements.
  • Provide information on traffic paths and safe/unsafe work areas for employees.
  • Heighten the awareness of pedestrian workers to vehicle traffic in the work zone.
  • Maintain smooth traffic flow.
  • Restrict the use of cell phones while near heavy equipment.

Develop and follow a good internal traffic control plan to ensure the safety of everyone on the construction site.

Download the recording form here.

Significant Change to Oversize/Overweight Vehicle Permitting

Posted on by Dan Osborn

Starting July 16, 2018, bridge analysis will be required for an Oversize/Overweight (OSOW) Vehicle permit requests for a gross vehicle weight (GVW) load of 134,000 pounds or greater. The Indian Department of Transportation (INDOT) sent notices to contractors and other permittees during the week of July 1, 2018. The memorandum can be found on the Indiana Department of Revenue’s (INDOR) Oversize/Overweight web page. The current threshold triggering a bridge analysis is 200,000 GVW.

ICI staff and industry members met with INDOT and INDOR staff on July 9 to review the change and discuss expected challenges for all stakeholders due to the change. INDOT Bridge Design Division is currently gearing up for estimated 120 bridge analyses per day (based on summer month volume) by hiring six dedicated administrative staff. Industry expressed concerns with rerouting due to deficient bridges and permits in critical situations driven by the typical characteristics of heavy highway and bridge construction including weather and unforeseen conflicts. INDOT stressed planning to provide a two to three-day notice. But, agency representatives stated they will consider avenues for emergency permits for unforeseen circumstances to avoid missing critical project deadlines.

INDOR provided guidance to ICI including OSOW Vehicle permit route text entering instructions.

Prosecutors Share Success in Work Zone Fatality Conviction

Posted on by admin_ici

Here are the minutes from the October Safety Joint Coop meeting, in which we were fortunate to have a representative from the Marion County Prosecutors office, Christina Gull, as well as from the Indiana Prosecuting Attorneys Council, Chris Daniels, to share and address concerns that our members had regarding the prosecution or a lack there of by motorists who injure or kill workers in work zones. Our members were eager to learn why the prosecutors were so successful in the case where a motorist was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing two highway workers in 2014 but not in other obvious situations of negligence involving highway worker deaths. They also wanted to know what contractors can do to assist in the success going forward.

Ms. Gull, who actually worked on the 2014 case, praised ICI members for their cooperation and willingness to help educate the attorneys as well as the jury on the specifics of a work zone and what goes into designing, building and disassembling them. She shared that they could have in no way been successful without the help of our members.

Mr. Daniels enlightened members to the fact that these cases a very challenging to prosecute because of the way the laws are written. The law is written in a way where when trying to try a case involving a motorist killing a worker with a vehicle is no different than a case attempting to prosecute an individual who used a gun to kill a person. His office is working with the legislature to fix these problems.

One of the major takeaways from the presentation was that there is no automatic path or process to prosecuting these violators. Contractors and others concerned should feel free to alert the local prosecutor’s office to ensure that they are aware of incidences that could warrant prosecution. In most cases this awareness comes from the police department; however, when they don’t recognize the opportunity for prosecution, they will not move the case forward.

The ICI Safety Joint Coop forum meets bimonthly and is a great platform for our members and their safety directors to gather to share and keep abreast of the latest industry happenings as they relate to road construction safety. These gatherings regularly involve representatives from IDOL, ISP and INDOT. One of the main features of the Safety Joint Coop meeting is the open discussion session in which members get the opportunity hear details of injuries that have occurred in the industry and learn ways to avoid them in their own shops. The group thinking here is one of the worst things that we can experience as an industry is for the same injury to occur in one member’s shop that has already occurred in another’s shop, and there was no platform to learn from others mistakes.

Download calendar appointments for the meetings scheduled for:

Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Wednesday, May 24, 2017

Wednesday, July 26, 2017

Wednesday, September 27, 2017

Wednesday, November 29, 2017

Wednesday, January 24, 2018