"No amount of safety gear will protect a worker if they get hit by a speeding vehicle," said Stephen E. Sandherr, the association's chief executive officer. "The best defense from crashes is teaching crews how to set up and operate safer work zones"
According to the latest federal safety data, 962 workers were killed at road construction sites between 2003 and 2010. Meanwhile, a survey conducted by the association last spring found that 45 percent of contractors had vehicles crash into their work zones during the past year. Even worse, workers are injured in 20 percent of those crashes and killed in 6 percent of those crashes.
The highway work zone safety program will be offered in eight different locations beginning in January 2015. Sandherr added that association expects the training to have the impact of reaching and protecting thousands of workers on hundreds of jobsites by incorporating best practices that will be used over and over. The program will provide comprehensive information about proper set up of highway work zones, flagger safety and heavy equipment management, he added.
