Go Orange for Work Zone Safety & Struck-By Hazard Awareness Week
With spring and summer, along with the barbeques, pool parties and vacation days that come with warm weather, so does one other inevitability: road cons...
With spring and summer, along with the barbeques, pool parties and vacation days that come with warm weather, so does one other inevitability: road construction.
⚡ TL;DR: 762 fatal work zone crashes occur annually; 31% involve speed, 24% are rear-end collisions. Go Orange Day raises awareness. Struck-by hazards are OSHA’s leading cause of workplace death since 1992.
⚠️ What’s at stake: Work zone incidents cause fatalities and serious injuries. Your company faces OSHA citations for inadequate struck-by protections, training gaps, and safety program failures.
The week of April 26-30, 2021 is National Work Zone Awareness Week. Road construction occurs all throughout the year, but tends to start ramping up in the warmer spring and summer months. So now is a good time to review some good safety practices on construction zone safety.
Work zones separate construction activities and construction workers from traffic, allowing both to work in harmony. However, construction zones create a different traffic pattern and can sometimes be confusing areas. On top of that, there are workers and machinery moving about. Speed reduction areas, delays for pilot cars, and even route changes can affect our time schedules too.
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 2019 fatalities rose 11% from 2018.
There were 762 fatal crashes in work zones, 324 on arterial roads and 287 on the interstates There were 842 fatalities in work zones, 690 of those fatalities were drivers and passengers Of the fatal crashes, 33% were commercial motor vehicles 31% of fatalities involved speed 24% of fatalities were rear-end collisions
National Work Zone Awareness Week Events and Materials and Go Orange
You are encouraged to participate in Go Orange Day on Wednesday April 28, 2021 and wear orange to spread the message of work zone safety with your friends, family, coworkers and community.
There are a ton of resources out there to share with your workers as part of your weekly safety messages and meetings. Here are some links to some sites for national and state event information and resources you can download:
National WorkZone Safety Information Clearinghouse (National and State Site Links) Download a Flyer to Share with Your Workers from the National Work Zone Week Site Download iSi’s 1-page Safety Toolbox Flyer With Safety Tips to Share With Your Team National Work Zone Awareness Week Website Participate – National Work Zone Awareness Event Tool Kit
Struck-By National Stand-Down Week
Along with National Work Zone Awareness Week, NIOSH’s National Occupational Research Agenda’s (NORA) Construction Sector Council is promoting the National Stand-Down to Prevent Struck-By Incidents. Struck-by hazards have been OSHA’s leading cause of death and non-fatal injuries since 1992. NORA will be hosting 2 webinars on Monday April 26.
One is about cranes and lifting and the other is preventing struck-by incidents. To register, download this flyer about the event. You can also find a wide variety of training materials, infographics and other resources on struck by hazards here on the Center for Construction Research and Training Website.
Need work zone safety training, struck-by hazard audits, or toolbox topic materials? Get started →
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What statistics does the U.S. Department of Transportation report about work zone fatalities?
According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, 2019 work zone fatalities rose 11% from 2018, with 762 fatal crashes and 842 fatalities total. Of these fatalities, 690 involved drivers and passengers, 33% involved commercial motor vehicles, 31% involved speed, and 24% were rear-end collisions. These statistics demonstrate the serious risk that work zones pose to drivers and workers.
Q: What are the primary causes of work zone fatalities?
The leading causes of work zone fatalities include excessive speed (31% of fatalities), rear-end collisions (24%), and crashes involving commercial motor vehicles (33%). Worker fatalities at construction work sites are often caused by struck-by hazards, which have been OSHA’s leading cause of workplace death and injury since 1992.
Q: What is “Go Orange” and when is National Work Zone Awareness Week?
Go Orange for Work Zone Safety is a national awareness campaign encouraging people to wear orange on Go Orange Day to raise work zone safety awareness. National Work Zone Awareness Week is observed in late April, with events promoting safe driving practices through traffic control zones and construction areas. The 2021 event occurred April 26-30, with Go Orange Day on Wednesday, April 28.
Q: What is the National Stand-Down to Prevent Struck-By Incidents and why is it important?
The National Stand-Down to Prevent Struck-By Incidents, promoted by NIOSH’s National Occupational Research Agenda Construction Sector Council, addresses OSHA’s leading cause of workplace death and injury since 1992: struck-by hazards. The Stand-Down provides training materials, webinars, and infographics to prevent crane, lifting, and struck-by incidents at construction sites.
💰 The cost of work zone incidents: OSHA serious violations for struck-by hazards run $16,550+ each. Fatal incidents trigger criminal investigation, combined civil/criminal penalties exceeding $500K+.
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