March 28, 2007

Safety

Traffic Control Regulation Changes - what do they mean for you?

Leah Altizer

special to JOC

Vancouver

On January 1, 2007 changes to WorkSafeBC’s Occupational Health & Safety Regulation Part 18 Traffic Control came into effect.

To view the changes in full, go to WorkSafeBC’s website at www.worksafebc.com. These changes will be of particular interest to those in the traffic control industry or companies who use traffic control in their operations as they deal with the training of traffic control persons.

The changed requirement for the training of Traffic Control Persons (TCPs) is addressed in 18.4 (c) which states: “any person assigned to be a traffic control person is adequately trained in a manner acceptable to the Board and effectively performs their role in the traffic control arrangements and procedures for the work.”

Up until now, the regulation stated that TCPs must be trained in a course acceptable to the Board. Since 2003, the only course acceptable to WorkSafeBC was the Construction Safty Network’s two-day TCP course.

This change in wording now means that for groups that don’t face typical construction zone traffic control situations, there is a potential for more flexibility and industry-specific safety training.

The new regulation opens the door to the development of additional courses to meet the needs of groups who face different types of risks, such as school crossing guards and emergency response personnel.

Furthermore, the regulation puts the onus on the employer to determine the risks of the traffic control situation at hand through a job task analysis and must also prove that the training their TCPs have received is of a standard acceptable to WorkSafeBC.

Employers must demonstrate that they have provided a standard of training for their TCPs that matches the risk they’re exposed to. It remains WorkSafeBC’s responsibility to determine acceptability.

The Construction Safety Network will continue to manage and administer the current standardized program and ensure that TCPs and TCP instructors receive the highest standard of training. We will also look into opportunities to utilize our existing resources to develop additional job-specific traffic control training programs to increase safety where other special training needs exist.

Leah Altizer is Program Coordinator with the Construction Safety Network.

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