Improving the Safety Performance of Construction Work Zones

Download or read book Improving the Safety Performance of Construction Work Zones written by Mason Ali and published by . This book was released on 2021 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hundreds of fatal occupational incidents occur in construction work zones every year. According to the National Work Zone Safety (NWZS), there were 842 fatalities in work zones in the United States in 2019 compared to 757 in 2018. (NWZS 2019). The Manual of Uniform Traffic Devices (MUTCD) provides the minimum requirements for traffic safety, and improvements are always needed. Every work zone is unique based on several elements including, but not limited to, project location, construction type, task duration, and demography. This thesis further researches the safety performance of road work zones. Specifically, the study addresses and includes the following elements: 1. Investigating the work zone fatal incident investigation reports carried out by the Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program. 2. Investigating the Southeast Michigan Council of Government (SEMCOG) work zone incident reports. 3. Conducting a field experiment to assess the real influence of utilizing rumble strips on construction work zones. The study further suggests that the causes of work zone incidents were a combination of high-risk motorist behavior, a deficiency in temporary traffic control plans, and an unsuitable TTC setup. To mitigate the risk of fatal incident, motorists must increase attention and reduce speed when they pass work zones. Thus, utilizing new technologies like Temporary Portable Rumble Strips (TPRS) has been suggested to improve the safety of work zones. The field experiment suggests that TPRS could help reduce motorist speed under a specific circumstance and increase motorist awareness.