Nearly 10 people die because of being hit by cars on-site every year within the construction industry. These precious lives can be saved keeping in mind the several ways that can be implemented for preventing injuries and accidents.
From groundwork to completion along with workers, managers, visitors to the sites and the public can all face risk due to some or the other aspect relative to these accidents occurring at the construction site.
Below mentioned here are some ways to hold construction traffic control:
- Managing vehicles and pedestrians effectively
The insufficient separation of people and vehicles is the reason for most construction transport accidents. By careful planning specifically during the design stage and while controlling the vehicles’ operation processes during the construction works can also help avoid such accidents.
Actions Required
- It is essential to keep individual exit and entry gateways for people and vehicles;
- Creating Walkways, to get a direct route wherever possible to provide a firm, levelled, and well-drained walkways for people
- Proper visibility for drivers- This is to see that they do not miss the footway.
- Checking if there are any obstructions along the walkways- This is for the pedestrians so that they do not need to step onto the route of the vehicle;
- Another major method is to install a barricade between the walkway and the roadway which can help in preventing accidents.
- Managing the movement of vehicles
Vehicle movement around a site can be done using better strategies.
To limit the number of vehicles on-site, these implementations can help:
- For the workforce and visitors, they can be kept away from the work area by providing them a separate car and van parking
- Having a controlled entry to the work area;
- For delivery vehicles, it should be defined that they should not cross the site plant storage areas
- Competency of the people
It is essential to check the skills of people operating the machines, vehicles, and attachments they use on-site. This can be done by:
- Training operators and drivers;
- Managing the actions of the visiting drivers.
- With checks when recruiting drivers/operators or hiring contractors.
People must be trained and authorized to do so, especially for the ones who are directly involved with vehicle movements. When inexperienced or untrained workers drive construction vehicles without any authority, accidents can occur. People must be alert to unanticipated risks and access to the vehicle should be managed.
- Prevent reversing of vehicles
Reversing results in accidents. For this, one-way systems can be introduced to reduce the risks of accidents. Also, the turning radius system should be installed.
- Better visibility for Construction Traffic Control
Equipment that can help drivers sail better visibility of the vehicles all around must be provided including- mirror, CCTV cameras or reversing alarms.
Vehicle Marshallese with proper training should be appointed.
Lighting should be efficient enough for both the drivers and pedestrians to have a well-reflected view on shared routes.
Construction Traffic Control is an important step to check the safety of the people. During any kind of construction program for the road, these measures can be implemented to reduce the probable risks of accidents and help traffic move efficiently.
