3 Ways Mobile Technology Can Help in Roadway Construction Repair

Introduction

In the most recent “report card” on America’s infrastructure (2017) issued by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), the country’s infrastructure “GPA” was a dismal D+. The nation’s roads earned a “D,” while bridges fared not much better with a C+. 

Safety Improvement Program, which places a priority on widening lanes and shoulders and adding or improving medians. Congress is continuing to build upon the Surface Transportation Act with the Surface Reauthorization Act of 2021, which granted an extension on the work performed by the US Government.

Upgrading U.S. roadways has become a national imperative — which is welcome news for those in construction and related industries. 

While an uptick in business means a boost to your bottom line, it also brings new and pressing issues.

This ebook offers 3 ways mobile technology can be tapped into to improve worker safety, regulatory compliance, and equipment repair and maintenance on the nation’s highway construction projects.

Chapter 1: Improving Work Zone Safety

Each year, more than 857 workers are killed and more than 44,000 are injured in the highway and street construction industry, according to workzonesafety.org, a project of the Federal Highway Administration, American Road and Transportation Builders Association, and other parties. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the number of fatal work-related injuries at road construction sites averaged 124 per year, and from 1982 through 2019, 28,636 individuals (about 774 per year) lost their lives in work zone crashes. 

Since the peak year of 2002 – when 1,186 died in construction and maintenance zones – the number of deaths declined steadily to an average of 591 from 2008-2014, then increased to an average of 782 from 2015-2019. The industry can do better. Technology can help you assess workplace hazards and make crucial safety investments before accidents happen.

857 workers killed and 44,000 workers injured in the highway and street construction industry each year 36% Fatal Crashes in work zones have DECLINED by 36% since 2005.

Where Do Accidents Occur?

Of work zone fatalities in recent years that befell workers, almost half (48 percent) were runovers/backovers, most often by dump trucks, in 2019, nearly one-quarter of all fatal work zone crashes involved rear-end collisions.

Although this figure is less than the previous year, by 4%, this improvement was offset by an increase in fatal work zone crashes that involved speeding. Persons on foot and bicyclists also saw a significant increase (21%) in work zone fatalities in 2020, relative to 2019.

Here are some tips: 

• Develop an internal traffic control plan that limits access points to the job site and reduces the need for heavy equipment to back up. 
• Be familiar with your most commonly used heavy equipment’s Blind Area Diagrams; the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) publishes these for dump trucks, backhoes, dozers, rollers, and more. Share (and post) these diagrams with your crews and develop safety plans to keep workers out of blind spots. 
• Definitely make sure your trucks’ backup alarm systems are actually functioning. It seems like a no-brainer, but the lack of an alarm system was responsible for about 1/6th of recent backup fatalities. Those were totally preventable deaths.

It may surprise you to learn that more workers are killed by other construction vehicles than by the driving public.

What Are My Regulatory Responsibilities? 

In addition to taking common-sense steps to protect your employees, you also need to follow OSHA guidelines if you want to avoid an expensive citation. OSHA’s regulations for work in traffic areas are laid out in 29 CFR 1926 Subpart G; they cover such basics as requiring workers to be trained for how to move in traffic, requiring temporary traffic barriers, and requiring high-visibility safety vests or clothing. Flaggers have extra responsibilities — they must be trained in traffic control procedures and be able to perform under stress.

How Can Mobile Help? 

Checklists, an under-appreciated tool, are a great way to make sure you haven’t forgotten a crucial safety item in your work safety zone. And using a mobile checklist means that it’s always at your workers’ fingertips, and the information gathered is automatically stored in the cloud. You’ll be able to easily access and analyze this data to spot potential trouble areas — and prevent accidents before they happen.

With mobile checklists, you’ll be able to easily access and analyze data to spot potential trouble areas — and prevent accidents before they happen.

Start with a basic Personal Protective Equipment checklist and customize it to your needs. Or try one of the many mobile forms for paving and concrete workers, such as the Safety Checklist for Roadwork, Equipment Tracking, and more. Regular testing of equipment is important, too. A mobile checklist can help you inspect every aspect of a vehicle quickly and safely, so you can get back to work as soon as possible.

Chapter 2: Ensuring Compliance with Federal and State Regulations

When it comes to roadway and bridge repair/ construction, your business has to comply with no small number of regulations, including those from OSHA, noise regulations, and even state or local permitting laws. Many of these laws and regulations are straightforward and common sense. But of course, not everything is that simple.

Construction vs. Maintenance — What’s the Difference? 

Understanding whether work is “construction,” and subject to OSHA’s Construction Standards, or “maintenance,” subject to general industry standards, is essential to ensuring compliance.

For instance, according to the law firm Sherman & Howard, a 2010 OSHA regulation covering cranes and derricks applies to cranes used in construction work, but not when the same equipment is used in general industry work.

Another example: If the work is considered maintenance, confined spaces are extensively regulated by OSHA’s Confined Space Standard, which requires strict signage and ventilation procedures. But jobs defined as construction have only minimal requirements.

Unfortunately, OSHA doesn’t make it easy to distinguish between the two. The agency doesn’t take into account the nature of your business (i.e., construction companies can perform maintenance and maintenance companies can be engaged in construction), what you call it (work you call “roadway maintenance” is probably actually construction), or whether the work is performed in-house, by a general contractor, or a subcontractor.

Nonetheless, Sherman & Howard explains that in many cases it’s not too tricky to determine which category the work falls under, and many employers’ standards exceed all OSHA requirements anyway. 

In those cases where it’s unclear which standard applies, you should refer to OSHA’s resources on the matter, or consult a safety consultant or attorney. 

Keep the Noise Down 

Depending on where the project is located and what other activities are nearby, you may have to work on mitigating the noise coming from your equipment. 

Building a logging road in an otherwise empty forest requires no noise mitigation; ditto with building roads in already noisy areas filled with bus yards, utilities, etc. 

Areas near bars, hotels, and restaurants are less noise-sensitive than daycare centers, hospitals, and schools, which are in turn less noise sensitive than campgrounds, parks, churches, and other places of worship, and so on. 

The Federal Highway Administration’s Construction Noise Handbook has some tips for noise mitigation, such as constructing noise mitigation barriers before building anything else, using supplies on hand that must be stored, like earth, to mitigate noise, and scheduling noisy work concurrently with other noisy work, so as to get it all done at the same time. 

The FHA also required each state to update its own noise codes, so check with your state’s transportation department to learn about which noise regulations apply to where you work. 

How Can Mobile Help?

Using individualized checklists can help you ensure compliance with all federal and state regulations. And to tackle the noise issue, GoCanvas has a self-assessment that can be completed quickly on any mobile phone or tablet, saving you paperwork trouble (and saving your employees’ hearing).

Chapter 3: Improving Inspection and Maintenance Compliance

Any safe, well-run, and profitable road construction project benefits from regular inspections. Conducting your own means you won’t be caught by surprise if your state’s transportation department drops in for an inspection. Regular inspections aren’t just about “gotcha” violations. A good inspection team will help you keep your project safer for both the driving public and your employees.

A good inspection team will help you keep your project safer for both the driving public and your employees.

Some items you may want to take note of:

• General information such as project type, duration, location, contact information 
• Traffic mobility 
• Signage 
• Arrow board/message signs/Automated Flagger Assistance Devices (AFAD)/ temporary signal 
• Channelizing devices 
• Positive protection 
• Pavement markers and striping 
• Flagging (PPE, position, motorist direction, escape, etc.) 
• Work area traffic conditions and hazards
• Law enforcement positions and activities (if applicable) 

A mobile form can help you with your inspections and ensure proper documentation, secure and safe in the cloud, should you ever need to produce it. GoCanvas’ Work Zone Traffic Management Mobile Form Template, for instance, allows you to analyze your work zone, and inspect protective devices and your temporary traffic management plans. You’ll be able to capture a snapshot of any possible issues immediately — and submit audit results with just a tap.

Be Ready For OSHA 

Stay on top of OSHA safety regulations and know exactly what you need to do to prepare for an OSHA inspection with these guides. 

• Your Guide to OSHA’s Construction Safety Regulations

A mobile form can help you with your inspections and ensure proper documentation, secure and safe in the cloud, should you ever need to produce it.

Inspections For Your Equipment 

Regular inspections of your equipment are also important. Making sure everything is running properly and has been securely and safely installed and is regularly maintained is a part of keeping your employees safe. Regular inspections also help prevent breakdowns and keep your business on track and profitable. 

Using a mobile form checklist helps ensure your maintenance efforts are consistent and can be done on the spot with an individual’s mobile device, not just “when we get around to it.” Following your equipment’s suggested maintenance schedule can help prevent damage to machines and keep everything running (and keep your business productive). Here again, using a mobile form checklist makes your paper trail digital and much easier to retrieve.

What’s the Big Picture? 

Consider setting aside time to think beyond just changing fluids and replacing worn parts with bigger-picture maintenance items. Equipment-maker, Tracey Road, suggests going over a number of items:

• Operator training: If you have a new piece of technology but it’s being driven “the old way,” you’re not getting the full benefit of the new purchase Your Guide to OSHA’s Construction Safety Regulations.
• Technician training: If you operate an in house shop, your techs need ongoing training to learn about the newest equipment.
• Scheduled maintenance Planning ahead ensures you can take items out of service on your schedule.
• Components: Can you negotiate a price discount from your supplier by buying in bulk? 
• Fleet sizing: Do you have vehicles that are sitting unused? A digital inventory will help you determine if you can replace two smaller machines with one larger one or just dispose of unused assets.
• Disposal: Is it time to unload an underperforming asset? If you use mobile technology to track each machine to compute average productivity and costs per hour, you can identify equipment that is costing too much and should be replaced.

Conclusion

Given the nation’s aging infrastructure, there is an ongoing and growing need for road and highway maintenance and repair, which is great news for construction and repair companies.

By tapping into mobile technology, you can keep your workers safe, remain in compliance, and ensure the quality and performance of your work crews.

With all that new business comes a need to be hyper-vigilant about safety and complying with federal and state regulations. Conducting regular inspections of your worksites and equipment can ensure that everything is running at maximum productivity at the highest levels of safety. By tapping into mobile technology and the power of the cloud, you can keep your workers safe, remain in compliance with state and federal regulations, and ensure the quality and performance of your work crews.

Ready to Rethink How You Work?

GoCanvas has helped a variety of businesses across multiple industries transform their safety processes and rethink their efficiency, ultimately saving them money. Why not do the same? Reach out to one of our experts today to kickstart your process revolution.