How to Work Safely on Highways

But it appears that the standard use of lane closure arrow boards and crash attenuator units, in most cases, are not enough to deter motorist who are intent on ignoring these devices and are selfish to their own desire to get from point A to point B the fastest way possible, regardless of who or what is in between.

Therefore, what more can be done?

Bring police to the jobsite

Research has proven that, by far, the most effective way to minimize "drive-by incidents" and slowing down passing traffic, is the use of police services situated well in advance of your pattern and in most cases in front of it. So one recommendation is to add police services to your highway safety plan.

It has been proven that when motorists view emergency vehicle lights in addition to safety vehicle lighting, there is greater initial reaction to slow down. Although there is usually an additional cost associated with the use of police services, it can speak volumes for the added safety value. However, the important part of this feature is to provide the necessary distance from where the police and other signal indicators are located in conjunction with the actual work crew.

This is critical in effectively and safely slowing traffic as it passes. This ultimately will allow your crew and motorists to have more time to react to any situation on the roadway.

Even though you do everything mentioned above and more, there will always be that inherent danger of working on the highway.

So never sacrifice dollars spent on safety for the lives of your workers and others.

A proper highway safety program can lead to profitability and reward you with lower insurance costs.

The implementation of formal highway safety procedures, not only minimizes your loss potential, but can have long-lasting positive impact on your insurance costs. Although most insurance carriers who write this type of business require that these procedures be in place, they can offer additional safety credits to your pricing upwards of 20%.

The long-term effect will be that with reduced loss activity, the insurance company can also apply experience rating credits upwards of 25%. This of course is relative to their various state allowable filings.

Scott Cerosky is president of Pavement Maintenance Insurance Agency, which provides insurance packages tailored to the street and parking area pavement maintenance industry. For more information call 800-656-391 or reach Scott via email at scott@cleanstreetsins.com.