Related Articles
Spring 2007
- Message from the Co-Chairmen (Spring, 2007)
- Health Promotion: Help for Laborers and their Health & Welfare Plans
- Help for Laborers and their Health & Welfare Plans
- Nutrition and Fitness for Laborers
- Helping Laborers Get the Substance Abuse Treatment They Need
- Drug-Free Workplace initiatives
- LaboreRx - Lower Drug Costs and Better Service
- Get That Annual Check-Up
- Occupational Safety & Health: Safety Consultants for Labor and Management
- 'Best Practice' Seminars Reach Out to Contractors
- Laborers' True Stories
- Regulatory Work
- OSHA May Address Portland Cement Hazard
- ANSI to Adopt Hearing Conservation Standard
- Preventing Backovers in Work Zones
- LIUNA Funds, Allies Target Work Zone Safety
- Safety Committees: Safer Workplaces and Reduced Workers Comp Premiums
- Health and Safety in Canada
- www.LHSFNA.org: The Fund's Communications Hub
Published: Spring, 2007; Vol 9, Num 1
LIUNA Funds, Allies Target Work Zone Safety
When the 2005 highway bill – SAFETEA-LU – was passed, it set aside 2.5 percent of its $286.4 billion budget for safety issues, training and research. For the first time, it also require the use of “proper temporary traffic control devices” to improve safety in highway work zones.
“It’s [the Fund’s] job to find ways to translate research into effective programs to eliminate hazards on highway projects…”
Terence M. O’Sullivan-
LIUNA General President
FHWA Grant Partners
Laborers’ Health & Safety Fund of North America
Laborers-AGC Education and Training Fund
American Road and Transportation Builders Association
National Asphalt Pavement Association
International Union of Operating Engineers
American Association of State Highway Transportation Officials
Texas Transportation Institute
James Bryden
CAN Insurance
FOF Communications
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Intent on building on the success of the popular Roadway Safety Program, the LHSFNA and the Laborers-AGC Education and Training Fund united most of the key organizations in highway construction and submitted a winning plan for a $4.1 million training grant.
Work will begin on improving and expanding the quality of safety training materials, particularly for those responsible for the set up and maintenance of highway work zones. In this regard, the Roadway Safety Program will serve as both a means and a model for extended training. While a number of refinements will be made to the present training materials, a companion CD, aimed at supervisors and management personnel, will also be developed. Then, in the final years of the grant, concerted efforts will be made to advance both worker and supervisor training on all fronts throughout the highway construction industry.
“Better training resources will allow the industry to raise the safety skills and consciousness of everyone working in highway construction and repair,” says Walter Jones, the LHSFNA OSH Associate Division Director. “That means safer worksites for Laborers, lower costs for signatory employers and improved safety for the driving public.”