Protecting workers from harm in the highway work zones of Indiana and Illinois.
Last month, Indiana Senator Mike Braun introduced a joint bipartisan resolution with Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal to have next week (April 17-21) recognized across the country as “National Work Zone Awareness Week.” The Indiana Senator’s resolution has been endorsed by a number of safety organizations, including the Governors’ Highway Safety Association, the Associated General Contractors of America, and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
This Senate resolution was inspired by Ben Fisher, an Indiana traffic control flagger who was tragically struck and killed in 2019 on Indiana State Road 13 while working for a traffic control company. If enacted, the National Work Zone Awareness Week will serve to bring further awareness to crashes and fatalities in work zones, motivate individuals on the value of training and the vital importance of best practices in work zones, provide helpful tips on how to practice work zone safety, and enlighten individuals on the dangers that accompany being behind the wheel of a motor vehicle.
The History of the Annual National Work Zone Awareness Week Safety Campaign
Of course, safety agencies and those advocating for accident victims and their loved ones are well aware that each spring since 1996 there has been a public safety campaign known as “National Work Zone Awareness Week (“NWZAW”). The goal each year is “to encourage safe driving through highway work zones.”
Each annual campaign has a new theme or focus of events. Each year there is a different agency host.
This year, the Missouri Department of Transportation is hosting the 2023 NWZAW with a theme of “You play a role in work zone safety. Work with us.”
Keeping Workers Safe While on the Job in a Highway Work Zone
Anyone working in a highway work zone is facing a high risk of injury or death in a collision or crash, regardless of whether the work zone is on a rural route or alongside one of our notoriously high-traffic interstates like the Borman Expressway. Sadly, while hundreds continue to die each year in a highway work zone accident, the steps to keep work zones safe for workers are clearly documented for both employers, contractors, insurance carriers, safety agencies, and those advocating for these accident victims. Read, Pew Trust Warns Roadway Work Zone Fatalities Rise in 2020 for Workers, Drivers, and Passengers of Motor Vehicles: “It’s Crazy”.
As explained by the world-renowned Illinois safety agency, the National Safety Council, everyone with a duty of care and safety towards workers in highway safety zones can undertake simple steps outlined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) as follows:
- Use traffic control devices, signals and message boards to instruct drivers to follow established paths away from where work is being done.
- Deter unauthorized entry into work zones by using concrete, water, sand, collapsible barriers and other impact-absorbing materials.
- Make sure flaggers are wearing high-visibility clothing with a fluorescent background and made of retroreflective material. This makes them visible from at least 1,000 feet. They also should be using “STOP/SLOW” paddles or paddles with lights, and be trained on authorized signaling methods.
- Ensure work zones are well lit. “Lighting for workers on foot and for equipment operators should be at least 5 foot-candles or greater. Where available lighting is not sufficient, flares or chemical lighting should be used. Glare should be controlled or eliminated.”
- Buckle up. “Seat belts and rollover protection should be used on equipment and vehicles as the manufacturer recommends.”
Read, “Work with us’ on work zone safety,” published by the NSC’s Safety and Health Magazine on March 21, 2023.
Several Industries Impacted: Construction, Trucking, Electrical Workers
While most discussion will involve the dangers faced by construction workers on task with road infrastructure projects, bridge repair, and the like, the highway work zone hazards impact other industrial workers, too.
It is important for employers and others with legal responsibilities for worker safety to recognize how commercial truck drivers and those working on power lines in the electrical industry also need to participate in this month’s public safety campaign heralded as “National Work Zone Awareness Week.”
Trucking Industry: Commercial Truck Traffic
Particularly here in the Crossroads of America, the heavy volume of commercial truck traffic moving through Illinois and Indiana will encounter several highway work zones in the course of their workday.
As explained by the American Trucking Association (“ATA”), all motorists need to be clear on how to protect themselves from a catastrophic or fatal semi-truck crash in a highway work zone.
From the ATA, come the following safety suggestions (promoted during the 2019 NWZAW):
- Expect the Unexpected – Speed limits may be reduced, traffic lanes may be changed, and people may be working on or near the road.
- Be Patient and Considerate – Work zone crew members are working to improve the road and make your future drive better and safer.
- Slow Down – Speeding is one of the major causes of work zone crashes.
- Don’t Tailgate – Keep a safe following distance between you and the vehicle ahead of you.
- Pay Attention to Posted Signs – Warning signs are there to help guide you. Use them.
- Stay Alert and Avoid Distracted Driving – Work zones present uncommon obstacles. Motorists need to pay attention to the road and their surroundings.
- Plan Your Trip – Schedule your trip with plenty of extra time. Expect delays and leave early so you are not anxious while driving.
- Be Aware of Blind Spots – Trucks have large blind spots in front, back and either side. Try to avoid lingering in this space and do not cut in front of a truck.
Electrical Industry: Power Line Work
Another group of industrial workers who face great danger when working on or near a highway work zone are those responsible for the installation, maintenance or repair of electrical networks or power lines. From the Indiana Electric Cooperatives (“IEC”) comes a recognition of NWZAW with a reminder that utility crews working on electric power lines are also facing the extreme danger of a fatal collision in a highway work zone.
Explains IEC vice-president of safety, training, and compliance Jon Elkins,
“Power lines run alongside almost every highway and county road. Most work on these lines is conducted from bucket trucks. While this is faster and safer than climbing poles, it puts our lineworkers and their equipment closer to moving traffic. We want to remind motorists crews can be working at all hours. So we ask them to please be careful when they see ‘Work Zone’ signs, flashing yellow lights, and flaggers.
“Working on energized power lines at all hours and in all kinds of weather is dangerous enough for lineworkers. We ask folks to please not make it more dangerous by speeding so closely by them.”
Safety guidance from the IEC for all those with a legal duty for the safety of workers in a highway work zone are provided as follows:
- Take extra care to pay attention and expect the unexpected. Work zone configurations can change without notice.
- Don’t text or talk on the phone and avoid taking your hands off the wheel.
- Watch for speed limit reductions, narrowing lanes, changing traffic patterns and highway workers.
- Respect the posted speed limits and safely merge as soon and as safely as possible. This will allow traffic to flow smoothly.
- Keep in mind: Driving 45 mph, instead of 55 mph, through a 5-mile work zone will only add 1.2 minutes to your trip. Speeding and aggressive driving are major causes of work zone crashes.
- Keep a safe distance on all sides of your vehicle and maintain a safe following distance. Rear-end collisions are the most common type of work zone crash.
- Respect the flaggers and obey their guidance. Be patient when driving through work sites with flagger control.
- Pay attention to the road signs. Those signs are carefully selected to give drivers accurate information and important warnings.
- Expect delays and allow extra travel time to travel through work zones.
- Select alternate routes if possible to avoid the work zone completely.
- Slow down driving through work zones — it’s the law!
Justice for Workers Injured or Killed in a Work Zone Accident in Indiana or Illinois
First of all, any work zone accident in Indiana or Illinois is likely to be investigated by law enforcement as well as the companies and employers involved in the circumstance and those advocating for the accident victim and their loved ones.
Work Zone Accident Criminal Convictions
As the IEC points out, there is a state statute in Indiana that protects against these types of accidents. The Indiana Work Zone Safety Law mandates that all motorists do things like slowing down to 10 mph under the posted speed limit, and to never stop in the roadway in order to avoid a rear-end crash. From the IEC:
Indiana law requires motorists to approach cautiously and change lanes away from the emergency vehicles if they can do so safely. If not, they should reduce their speed to 10 mph under the posted speed limit and proceed with caution. Motorists should not stop in the roadway; this may cause a rear-end collision with other vehicles. Drivers who cause the death of someone in an Indiana roadway may face criminal charges with several years behind bars upon conviction.
For more, read the Indiana Department of Transportation’s discussion of work zone safety with its citations to the following Indiana statutes:
- Indiana Work Zone Safety Law (2011)
- Highway Work Zone Criminal Law (IC 9-21-8-56)
- Highway Work Site Speed Limit Law (IC-9-21-5-11).
There are similar work zone safety laws in the State of Illinois. Upon conviction, someone responsible for the death on an accident victim in an Illinois work zone can be sentenced to 14 years incarceration.
Of course, these criminal cases will not provide civil damages to those who have been harmed in the work zone accident. State civil personal injury, wrongful death, and workers’ compensation laws must all be considered as potential avenues for justice in the aftermath of a tragic work zone accident in our part of the country.
For more, read:
- Electric Power Lines and Live Wires on the Worksite: Serious or Fatal Electricity Accidents
- Power-Line Work is One of the Most Dangerous Jobs in the Country
- Semi-Truck Crashes: Who Can Be Held Legally Responsible for Commercial Trucking Accidents in Indiana and Illinois?
- Fatal Road Work Zone Accidents in Indiana and Illinois.
Work zones are obviously dangerous, and still there are people who will die or suffer permanent harm in a highway work zone accident in Indiana and Illinois. Employers, contractors, and others have a legal duty to keep workers safe. Motorists must also heed safety requirements. Sadly, all too often these duties are breached with horrific consequences. Please be careful out there!
