Abstract
The increase in number of vehicles and deterioration of the existing facilities necessitates the need to improve the existing roadways and to build additional highways hence creating more work zones in cities around the globe. Two work zones one on a rural road and one on an urban road were studied to identify potential hazards in work zone and determine the most dangerous area of the work zone using risk concentration level. Confusing signs, use of dangerous devices for road closure, missing buffer, missing tapers, use of non-retro reflective devices, unprotected work area, dangerous flagging, missing safety alarms for heavy machineries, speed, aggressive driving and improper pedestrian access are the most dangerous hazards in work zone having a very high risk level. Transition area was found to be the most dangerous area of the work zone with a very high risk concentration level followed by working area with high risk concentration level, then advance warning area with medium risk concentration and finally termination area also with medium risk concentration. Proper installation and maintenance of temporary traffic control devices, use of safety attires by workers, fitting all moving machineries with safety alarms, use of retro reflective devices, protecting work activities, providing buffers for workers, and law enforcement will improve safety of the work zones.
Highlights
Work zone is the section of roadway occupied by work which affect traffic flow and road users as those areas of carriage way in advance of the working area for the advance warning signs, channelizing devices for transition of traffic movement, the activity area where actual work is Research to date is limited, but demonstrates firstly that the presence of work zones increases risk on the roads, secondly, that working on the roads is one of the most dangerous occupations and thirdly, that improved safety practices can reverse these scenarios (Kýzýltaþ, 2001)
In Germany, approximately one quarter of collisions occurring on national highways occur in work zones (European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), 2011)
The major factors contributing to work zone crashes are driver expectation, roadside hazard, driver behaviour, unsuccessful mitigation strategies, roadway characteristics, environmental conditions, secondary congestion caused by roadway incident and combined effect (ETSC, 2006)
Summary
Work zone is the section of roadway occupied by work which affect traffic flow and road users as those areas of carriage way in advance of the working area for the advance warning signs, channelizing devices for transition of traffic movement, the activity area where actual work is Research to date is limited, but demonstrates firstly that the presence of work zones increases risk on the roads, secondly, that working on the roads is one of the most dangerous occupations and thirdly, that improved safety practices can reverse these scenarios (Kýzýltaþ, 2001). In Germany, approximately one quarter of collisions occurring on national highways occur in work zones (European Transport Safety Council (ETSC), 2011). In the United States over 1,000 people die and more than 40,000 people are injured each year as a result of motor vehicle accidents in work zones (Mahoney et al, 2007). Research in the United States shows that, majority of fatalities that occur in road construction work zones involve a worker being struck by a piece of construction equipment or other vehicle. A worker in this industry is likely to be struck by a piece of construction equipment inside the work zone than by passing traffic (Yingfeng & Yong, 2009). Risk concentration level was used to assess the safety in each of the work zone areas
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