SPR 15-508: Safety Concepts for Workers from OSHA Perspective

The objective of this research is to provide guidance to improve the safety performance of KYTC managed construction and maintenance projects. The safety culture within highway construction, especially in the region, leaves much room for improvement. Complacency abounds in an environment full of uncontrollable hazards. Other states and regions have lower incidents rates inferring there is a learning opportunity for Kentucky’s Highway Industry. This project will synthesize elements of this safety performance and compile best practices, inclusive of emerging technologies, from across the nation to provide guidance to assist state transportation agencies and highway contractors in improving safety on highway work sites. This study does not represent an additional study in work zone safety, as attention has recently been focused on this area. The interest of this study is the safety practices of those that perform highway construction work. This rationale comes from four of the five worker deaths occurring in KYTC work zones in the past three years being work related and not traffic related. This project would focus on the safety measures employed by the Kentucky Highway Industry and provide guidance and benchmarks from surrounding states showing lower incident rates. The project theme would be in the form of contractor practices and safety performance outside of issues related to traffic control measures.