labor lawAdivision of labor law center

With construction season underway, it’s important for drivers to be alert and to slow down in highway work zones.

Road and highway crew workers “have one of the most dangerous occupations in the United States,” says Edwin G. Foulke Jr., Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).

Michigan highway worker safety statistics show that 100 highway workers die and another 20,000 suffer injuries during street and highway construction every year. Half of the injures happen when a worker is hit by a truck or by construction equipment within the work zone. Drivers should slow down in work zones and be alert to the warning signs, according to OSHA, which also recommends that workers wear easy-to-see, reflective vests.

National Work Zone Awareness Week, the first week of April of every year, is marked by OSHA to draw attention to the dangers faced by highway crews, and this year’s push focuses specifically on the dangers faced by highway work zone employees. The theme of the campaign this year is “Signs for Change,” and drivers are being urged to slow down in be careful in highway work zones.  OSHA and the Roadway Work Zone Safety and Health Partners Alliance have joined to urge awareness of the dangers to workers in highway work zones. This year’s campaign kicked off with a ceremony April 3 on Interstate 495 in Alexandria, Virginia, at a construction site.

The campaign needs “the support of everyone who gets behind the wheel on a daily basis,” said Assistant Secretary Foulke. “There were nearly 1,100 work zone fatalities last year – that is a tragedy. I am hopeful that campaigns like this will help reduce those numbers.”

Jeffrey P. Koplan, M.D, M.P.H., adds that “Every day, when orange traffic cones prompt us to slow down and drive carefully near work zones, we are reminded that highway and street construction is hard and potentially hazardous work.”

A major cause of death for highway workers in the U.S. is “acute trauma,” which often happens when a worker is hit by a car.

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