Working on roads and roadsides poses significant risks to workers and motorists. The risks arise due to changed roadway conditions, disrupted traffic flow, limited working space, and movement of construction and public vehicles in close proximity to workers and worksites. With the aim of mitigating risks and improving safety at worksites, Austroads commissioned research (Project No. BN2019) to understand contemporary practice in managing safety at road worksites and to recommend practical guidance from learnings that would be applicable to Australia and New Zealand. This research was conducted by the Centre for Accident Research and Road Safety — Queensland (CARRS-Q). The scope of this research was limited to worksite issues and best practices related to interactions with public traffic. The main objectives of the research were to: 1. understand contemporary practice in safety at road worksites and benchmark Australia and New Zealand with comparable international transport and industry sectors, 2. determine learnings from contemporary best practice in managing safety at road worksites that could be applied to the Australian and New Zealand road environment, and 3. recommend practical guidance for road agencies to improve the management of safety at road worksites in Australia and New Zealand. Safety performance at worksites in Australia and New Zealand was qualitatively benchmarked with selected international jurisdictions (United States, United Kingdom, Italy, Sweden, France, Norway, Greece, and Netherlands) by undertaking a comprehensive review of the literature and a series of semi-structured consultations with 13 experts from the international jurisdictions. The benchmarking exercise focused on qualitatively identifying and comparing the common hazards at roadworks, their prevalence and the potential associated outcomes. The best practices in managing safety at road worksites were identified by gathering information from a range of sources: • published literature • manuals equivalent to Australian Standard AS1742.3 and the New Zealand Code of Practice for Temporary Traffic Management from other jurisdictions with comparable or improved safety performance, • consultation with the 13 international experts. The expert consultation focused on identifying the safety practices and controls used in their jurisdictions, as well as on obtaining their opinions on innovative ways to improve safety at worksites. The identified best practices are presented in this report in six groups: regulation, traffic signs and informational controls; enforcement related controls; traffic related operational controls; worksite/worker related operational controls; physical protection and separation related controls; and driver education and awareness campaigns. Recommendations for improving safety at worksites were developed and refined in a three stage process. A set of preliminary recommendations were developed at the first stage, which were then consulted with Austroads member agencies in the second stage to understand the degree of applicability, feasibility, expected potential impact, and level of support in and relevant to their jurisdictions. The final recommendations were developed by including feedback received in the second stage. The final list includes 10 recommendations to be considered for implementation after limited scale trials, 22 recommendations to be considered for trials, eight recommendations to be considered for implementation after rigorous scale trials, and one recommendation unlikely to be useful. (Author/publisher)
Samenvatting