November 28, 2011

Cone pick up will get a lot safer for some contractors

View from the Board | Grant McMillan

A WorkSafeBC Regulation that caused confusion and difficulty for contractors has been changed.

Following a series of meetings and consultations, including WorkSafeBC’s formal and public regulation review process, the Council of Construction Associations (COCA) has succeeded in changing the regulation that controls the retrieval of traffic cones.

Mike Pelletier, manager for loss prevention & safety with Emil Anderson Construction Inc. and long time COCA director, brought this issue to the council and worked diligently alongside COCA to help bring about this positive change.

Industry experts strongly supported the COCA proposal. The regulation that will be changed states that:

“Rear mounted footboards or platforms must not be occupied if the mobile equipment is backing up.” (16(31)[3]. COCA lobbied for the change to this regulation on the basis that the safest and most practical way of recovering traffic cones is for the truck to back up on the freeway, while the workers recover the traffic cones.

The safest option for the recovery of traffic cones is the use of a rear-facing work platform. The platform is engineered for safety and is usually affixed to the rear of a pickup or one-ton truck. The worker places the cones from this platform when the truck moves forward on the highway or freeway.

When it is time to collect the traffic cones, the process is reversed. The truck with the workers is protected by the line of cones that taper towards the construction zone.

This practical method avoids the high risk involved in having to turn the truck around after recovering the cones.

The alternative of travelling in the direction of the traffic and removing the cones exposes the workers to a far greater hazard from high-speed traffic.

With the current regulation, the truck travels in the same direction as traffic.

When the traffic cones are removed, there is far less protection because the traffic is overtaking the cone truck so quickly that the traffic cannot move over or brake in time.

The other method for working within strictures of the current regulation is for the truck to drive in the protected traffic cone area in the opposite direction to the oncoming traffic.

When the workers complete the pickup of the traffic cones, the truck must then perform a U or J turn on a highspeed highway or freeway.

This alternative method exposes the truck and the workers to the hazard of performing a U or J turn under dangerous conditions with traffic.

For these reasons, COCA sought to initiate a change to the regulation.

COCA advocated that the rear-mounted platform must be designed and used in such a way that workers are not placed at risk.

For example, the trucks used for this purpose must have functioning flashing/arrow boards as well as rotating amber lights and hazard lamps.

The rear-mounted platform must have a safety rail system to prevent falling by the workers. This positive change from WorkSafeBC will help to safeguard workers, who retrieve traffic cones on highways and freeways.

The change to the regulation will come into effect on Feb. 1, 2012.

The new traffic control Regulation (Part 16.31 Mobile Equipment) can be viewed here.

Grant McMillan is the president of the Council of Construction Associations (COCA), which represents the interests of 16 construction associations in B.C. on WorkSafeBC matters. Grant is also a member of the Journal of Commerce Editorial Advisory Board.

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