Preventing Worker Injury and Deaths from Traffic Accidents

The statistics are starting. It is estimated that, nationally,  over 1000 highway workers lose their lives annually as a result of work zone accidents caused by negligent drivers. Construction flagmen, crossing guards in school zones and at the beach, and emergency responders — who stand near or in traffic to protect others and build our roads - are at constant risk of death or injury.  

Workers who work near moving traffic are at high risk of injury and death from traffic related motor vehicle accidents. 

One way to reduce the risk of death or injury is for workers to be more visible to oncoming traffic by wearing a reflective safety vest or other high visibility clothing.   High visibility clothing includes reflective T-shirts, sweatshirts and winter coats and raincoats, as well as safety vests.  Safety vests can be worn all year round, and are available as an "expandable vest,"  that can be worn over top of a coat, for example, and then adjusted to a smaller size when needed.

Construction Vehicle Accidents

Construction vehicles can cause severe injury when involved in an accident on a worksite.  Because of their size and the weight of the loads they carry, workers can be severely injured or killed if an accident occurs.  To help prevent such accidents, workers on a construction site need to be visible to the drivers of construction equipment, particularly in bad weather or low light conditions. To increase worker visibility, ANSI (American National Standards Institute) has established standards for reflective safety vests and other reflective clothing worn by workers when in the vicinity of moving construction equipment or other vehicular traffic.   

With warm weather fast approaching, a reflective safety vest, sweatshirt or T-shirt should be worn to increase worker visibility.  For increased comfort in warm weather, ANSI reflective vests come in an open weave mesh fabric, as well as solid fabric, and come in a variety of styles and with a variety of features, such as pockets for pencils or cell phones, as well as zipper or Velcro fronts.