Road construction work zones can pose a serious safety hazard for both workers and motorists. Anytime motor vehicles share the roadway with construction workers, the potential for an accidental collision exists.

Specialized equipment designed to alert drivers to the presence of construction workers should be incorporated into every work zone. This equipment can take many forms, giving construction crews the ability to customize their work zone to meet their unique safety needs.

1. Signage

Signage is one of the most basic forms of work zone equipment in use today. The primary purpose of signage is to alert drivers to the presence of a work zone.

All signage should be placed well in advance of the actual work zone. This gives drivers ample time to make any adjustments needed to accommodate lane closures and speed restrictions associated with a work zone.

Advance notice through adequate signage puts drivers on high-alert, which could help prevent a serious accident from occurring in your work zone in the future.

2. Traffic Control Barriers

Another popular type of work zone equipment is the traffic barrier. A traffic barrier might be weighted orange cones or barrels. Traffic barriers are utilized to establish a perimeter around a work zone.

It would be too easy for a vehicle to pass into the work zone without realizing it if traffic barriers were not present. Most drivers know that the presence of traffic barriers means that caution is needed to navigate a particular stretch of road.

Invest in traffic control barriers that are well-suited for the size and scale of your construction project.

3. Lighting

A lot of construction companies make the choice to work on road projects at night. Traffic patterns can vary dramatically from day to night.

Fewer cars are on the road at night because most people have completed their commutes during daylight hours. Fewer vehicles on the road means a reduced risk of contact between a vehicle and workers on a construction site.

However, you must utilize quality lights in order to maximize the safety of a night project. Flashing lights help to draw a driver's attention to LED signage providing information about a construction site. You can also utilize lighted towers or illuminated arrows to successfully redirect traffic at night.

Bright lighting makes it possible for crews to safely work on road construction sites after sundown.

4.  Flaggers

While they aren't a piece of equipment in the general sense of the word, flaggers can be critical to the safety of your road construction work site. Flaggers wear bright vests and hold a paddle with a stop sign on one side and a slow sign on the other.

You will most often see flaggers working in pairs on stretches of road where only one lane is open to through traffic. The flaggers will radio one another to assess traffic conditions on either end of the work zone.

The flaggers' paddles are flipped in unison to ensure traffic on one side of the work zone remains at a standstill while the traffic on the other end moves through the work zone safely.

Some flaggers are joined by a pace vehicle that leads traffic through the work zone. A pace vehicle prevents motorists from speeding or becoming disoriented when driving through an active work zone.

You must invest in the right equipment if you want to maintain safety on your road construction site. Basic yet effective forms of work zone safety equipment include flaggers, lighting, traffic control barriers, and signage.

Combining these types of safety equipment can significantly increase the overall safety of any road construction work site you create in the future.

To learn more, contact a resource that offers work zone equipment.