Articles tagged: Road Crews

Public works employees face a wide range of hazards due to the hands-on, outdoor, and often traffic-adjacent nature of their work. While specific risks vary by department, injury data across municipalities and agencies tends to show consistent patterns. The following are the top five causes of injur…

High-visibility clothing is one of the most critical layers of protection for public works crews operating in or near traffic, heavy equipment, and low-light conditions. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI), through ANSI/ISEA 107, sets the requirements for high-visibility safety apparel …

Highway crews operate in some of the most hazardous work environments in public works. Fast moving traffic, heavy equipment, changing weather, noise exposure, and uneven terrain create a constant mix of risks. Personal protective equipment, or PPE, serves as the last line of defense when engineering…

Salt and sand spreaders are essential tools for maintaining safe winter roadways, but they also introduce a range of hazards that crews must manage carefully. Operators work around heavy equipment, moving conveyors, spinning disks, and corrosive materials, often in darkness or bad weather. A well ma…

Slips, trips, and falls are among the most common winter injuries for public works and highway crews. Whether workers are clearing snow, loading materials, stepping out of a plow truck, or walking through the yard, icy surfaces create unpredictable hazards. A single misstep can lead to sprains, stra…

Winter operations place tremendous demands on plow trucks, loaders, graders, and support vehicles. Equipment that works flawlessly in summer can fail quickly in freezing temperatures, blowing snow, or during long-duration winter storm events. A thorough pre-trip inspection is one of the most importa…

Winter storm operations often require highway and public works crews to work through the night, sometimes for twelve, sixteen, or even twenty-four hours straight. These long shifts are necessary to keep roads safe for the public, but they also create a serious safety concern for the workers behind t…

Frozen culverts and blocked outfalls are common winter problems that can lead to flooding, road washouts, property damage, and hazardous driving conditions. Public works and highway crews are often called to restore flow quickly, sometimes during severe weather or freezing temperatures. Because thes…

Snowplow operators face some of the most challenging and hazardous conditions in public works. Blowing snow, darkness, sleet, freezing fog, and heavy snowfall can reduce visibility to only a few feet. When visibility deteriorates, the risk of collisions, roadway departures, and equipment damage incr…

When a trench collapses, a culvert fails, heavy equipment tips, or a large object pins a worker, the instinct is to free the trapped person as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, removing the pressure too rapidly can trigger a life-threatening medical emergency known as crush syndrome. Crush syndrom…

A trench collapse is one of the most dangerous emergencies a public works crew can face. Soil moves with tremendous force, and a worker buried in even a small cave-in can be critically injured or suffocate within minutes. The instinct to jump into the trench and start digging is powerful, but it is …

Excavation work is routine for public works departments; installing culverts, replacing water lines, cleaning drainage structures, or repairing utilities. But once soil is cut, gravity becomes an unforgiving opponent. Trench collapses are one of the leading causes of fatalities in construction and m…