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Working around traffic, including plant and vehicles, can be dangerous. Construction work is often undertaken around traffic. PCBUs must use traffic management measures to manage the risks to health and safety.
This involves planning and controlling the movement of persons and goods, including:
- Both stationary and moving traffic
- Pedestrians
- Cyclists, and
- All types of vehicles, including plant
Keeping this movement orderly and efficient will minimise risk at the workplace.
PCBU duties |
Worker duties |
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You must eliminate the risks associated with traffic so far as is reasonably practicable. If that is not possible, you must minimise risks so far as is reasonably practicable. As part of this duty, you must identify hazards and assess and control the risks associated with traffic. You must prepare a traffic management plan. For more information on traffic management plans, please click here. You must also consult workers, any health and safety representatives about WHS and who are or are likely to be directly affected by a health and safety matter. If the work involves working on or next to a public road, this is classified as a high-risk construction work. You must prepare a safe work method statement before work is commenced. For more information, click here. You must consult, cooperate and coordinate with other relevant duty holders. |
Your PCBU has a duty to keep you and your workplace safe from risks associated with traffic. You also have a duty to take reasonable care of your own health and safety and that of others in the workplace including ensuring your acts and omissions don’t adversely affect others health and safety. Comply with any reasonable instructions, policies and procedure given by your PCBU at the workplace, so far as is reasonably able to. |
Risk management
PCBUs must identify hazards and assess and control the risks associated with traffic.
Identify hazards
There are many hazards when undertaking construction work near traffic. Consider:
- The floor plan and where there are overhead structures
- Whether the work is close to public areas
- When there are high volumes of traffic
- Where blind spots could be
- If there are areas of poor visibility
Review work tasks, work design and management. Consider:
- Vehicle types and heights
- Where loading and unloading occur
- Where vehicles park, the road surface and where they enter and exit
- Ask workers, drivers and pedestrians about any traffic management problems they have encountered at your workplace.
- Review incident and injury records, including near misses.
Control measures for traffic management risks
As a PCBU, when implementing controls, the first thing that should be considered is whether a traffic hazard can be eliminated. For example, through removing powered mobile plant and other vehicles from the workplace. If this is not reasonably practicable, substitution, isolation and engineering controls should then be considered. For example:
- Substitute the hazard for something safer. For example, swap trucks and forklifts with other load shifting equipment such as a walker stacker.
- Isolate the risk from workers. For example, separate pedestrians from vehicles by using overhead walkways.
- Use engineering controls. For example, fit vehicles with devices such as reversing sensors and rear-view cameras.
If a risk still remains, use administrative controls. Administrative controls include processes such as training, instruction and supervision.
Traffic management plans
A traffic management plan outlines how you will manage traffic risks.
A traffic management plan may include consideration of:
- the flow of pedestrian and vehicle movements
- how often you expect vehicles and pedestrians to interact
- the layout of barriers, walkways and signs
- how you will manage short term, mobile work and complex traffic situations.
Traffic management involves planning and controlling the movement of persons and goods, including:
- all types of vehicles, including plant
- both stationary and moving traffic
- pedestrians, and
- cyclists.
Keeping this movement orderly and efficient will minimise risk at the workplace.
If you have workers on or near a public road, you must consider extra risks. If temporary traffic management measures are required, you should consider:
- the circumstances of the work
- the work being undertaken, and
- the volume and proximity of the traffic to the workplace.
Common traffic controls include the use of:
- barricades
- speed limits
- traffic cones
- traffic controllers, and
- signs.
Safe Work Method Statements
Working on or next to a public road is classified as high-risk construction work. As a PCBU, before you commence this work you must prepare a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS). For more information SWMS, please refer to Safe Work Australia’s information sheet on SWMS. To learn more about how to prepare a SWMS, use our interactive SWMS tool.
For more information
Model Codes of Practice
Other resources
- Workplace traffic management guidance material
- Safe Work Australia webpage – Traffic management
- Gig food delivery materials
- Virtual workplace - Carpark
- Austroads
- Guide to Standards
- Guide to temporary traffic management (Set)
- AS 1742 Set - 2014 Manual of uniform traffic control devices
- The interactive safe work method statement (SWMS) tool provides information on preparing, using and reviewing SWMS for high risk construction work.
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