christopher consultants has an extensive corporate safety program that provides personal protection equipment to all field personnel. This program is overseen by Mr. Federico Tersoglio who works with the staff to ensure understanding and implementation of all safety procedures. In addition, Federico routinely produces “Safety Matters” content to educate employees and clients on relevant safety topics. Read more safety matters and stay safe on the job!
Did you ever have to schedule a field crew to do cross sections along a road? Maybe sight distance topo or edge of pavement shots and ditch-line? Have you considered the traffic dangers that the field crew might be up against?
For the safety of our field employees and the requirements set forth by the Department of Transportation, dependent on the Road, Route or Highway where the work is being performed, we must implement traffic control measures, at times needing the assistance of entities outside of our company. Please be cognizant of this; more than likely you as an engineer have already performed a site visit and have been exposed to the level of traffic.
The need and control of all road users is an essential part of highway construction, utility work, maintenance operations and the management of traffic incidents.
Please bring to the attention of the client, the following considerations when quoting and scheduling road work;
- Signs, signs and more signs – Field crew must place warning signs at specific locations dependent on the road conditions and work area. The amount of signs is also a matter to take into consideration. If you think this happens fairly quickly, think again. Signs must be placed at the proper distance and location and need to be placed or moved in specific order.
- Most of our crews are 2-man crews – The robotic gun can ‘lock in’ to many other objects that reflect light (car headlights, “cat eye’ reflectors, etc) forcing the instrument operator to remain with the instrument. A third field crew member might be needed to assist in the traffic control, as the party chief enters codes into the data collector, the third man watches for traffic.
- Subcontract Traffic Control Measures – Any road with traffic over 45 mph and all interstates (Privately owned roads ie: Dulles Greenway, have their own regulations) will require a Truck Mounted Attenuator (Crash Truck). They are also extremely valuable when doing work along other heavily transited roads. Their cost is about $1,440.00 per Day and can take about 30-40 minutes to get set up before the crew can start their work.
All these matters take time and effort which equals dollars. Please emphasize these safety matters to your clients when reviewing your anticipated work. Your first step towards safety can save a life.
