A New Era in Protecting Workers in Moving Road Vehicles

The Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) upheld two violations issued by OSHA to RoadSafe Traffic Systems for failing to provide adequate fall protection for workers in a moving vehicle. The OSHRC ruled that working from the back of a vehicle is a recognized hazard in the road construction industry that should have led the employer to provide workers with feasible fall protection. This ruling is significant because that type of work and practices are extremely common in the industry and now there is precedent that continuing that practice could bring an OSHA citation. The author also suggested the best option to protect workers installing reflectors and deploying or retrieving cones in this article.