What to Do When a Vehicle Crashes Into Your Work Zone

When a vehicle crashes into your work zone, protect yourself and the crew first, stop more traffic entering the crash area if it is safe to do so, and call 000. Give first aid within your training, preserve the scene, notify your supervisor, and make sure any notifiable incident is reported to the WHS regulator immediately.

Every traffic management company plans to prevent errant vehicles getting into the work area. Fewer plan in detail for the minutes after one does. This guide sets out a practical response sequence from the controller's position through to the following week. It is general information, not legal, medical or safety advice. Your company's emergency procedure, the project's incident plan and directions from police, ambulance, fire services and the regulator always take priority.

The first 60 seconds: protect yourself and the crew

Crashes into work zones are fast and confusing. Training and briefing decide what people do in that first minute.

1. Get clear. Use your escape path. Do not run across live lanes to reach the crash.
2. Warn the crew. Use the agreed alarm, such as a shout, whistle or horn, and the radio.
3. Account for everyone. The supervisor calls a headcount over the radio. A missing worker changes everything that follows.
4. Look for the next hazard. Fuel leaks, fire, smoke, a vehicle that is still moving, fallen powerlines, a hazardous load placard, or traffic still approaching at speed.

Austroads guidance for traffic controllers is clear that personal safety comes first when a driver disobeys a control, and that the area should be evacuated if there is doubt about the severity, particularly with hazardous loads.

Stop a second crash and call 000

A crash in a work zone often blocks lanes, scatters devices and distracts passing drivers. A second crash into the queue or into people helping is a real risk.

• Hold traffic if you can do it safely. Controllers at the approach ends can stop traffic using the existing set-up. Do not stand in a live lane to do it.
• Call 000. Ask for police, ambulance and fire as needed. Give the road name, nearest cross street or landmark, direction of travel, number of vehicles, number of people hurt and any hazards. Austroads guidance for traffic controllers also lists 112 from a mobile.
• Tell the supervisor and office. They start the company's incident procedure and contact the principal contractor.
• Plan for emergency vehicles. Decide where ambulance and fire crews will enter and park, and keep that route open. The emergency vehicle access guide covers this in planning terms.

If the queue is going to grow quickly, ask for advance warning to be extended, a VMS board or a full closure through the contingency arrangements in the traffic management plan.

Help the injured within your training

First aid saves lives in the time before paramedics arrive, but only if the helper does not become a second casualty.

• Approach only once the scene is protected and you can see no fire, live electrical hazard or moving vehicle.
• Send for the site first aid kit and any trained first aiders on the crew.
• Follow the 000 operator's instructions.
• Do not move an injured person unless they are in immediate danger, such as fire.
• Keep bystanders, including well-meaning drivers from the queue, out of the live area.

The first aid kit, trained first aiders and communication a crew relies on should be decided long before this moment, as part of the SWMS and site set-up. Errant vehicles are the hazard every other control is built around, as our traffic controller safety guide explains, so the emergency arrangements deserve the same planning.

Preserve the scene: what you can and cannot touch

This is where good crews make costly mistakes with good intentions. Tidying up, restacking cones or moving a damaged sign so traffic can flow may destroy the evidence that explains what happened.

The Austroads guide for field staff (AGTTM Part 6) says that where a fatal or serious injury occurs, evidence of all aspects of the site and incident must be preserved until police have finished their examination. The site should only be disturbed to save life or render assistance, traffic devices should not be cleaned or moved, crash debris stays in place, and preserving evidence takes precedence over traffic access. It also warns that shifting signs and devices could be seen as tampering with evidence. WHS laws add a parallel duty: for a notifiable incident, the site must be preserved until an inspector arrives or the regulator says otherwise, except to help people or make the site safe.

Notify the right people

The notifications below are typical. Your company procedure and the project's incident plan set the actual list and timing.

WHS laws require the business to notify the regulator immediately after becoming aware of a notifiable incident, by the fastest available means, and to keep a record of it. If you are not sure whether it is notifiable, call the regulator and ask. Victoria operates under its own OHS laws with its own notification rules, so check with WorkSafe Victoria there.

Record what happened while it is fresh

AGTTM Part 6 recommends recording the actual type, size and location of signs and devices in use at the time of a crash, photographing the arrangement, and noting the width and condition of the travelled path and the weather. Those records may be needed years later if legal proceedings follow.

Capture:

• time, date and exact location
• the TGS in use and any approved changes on the day
• photos of every sign and device from the driver's approach, once it is safe
• weather, light and road surface conditions
• vehicle type, colour, registration and direction of travel
• what each crew member saw, written separately, in their own words
• witness names and contact details, if they are willing
• the inspection records for the shift so far

The traffic management inspection photos guide explains how to take photos that are useful as evidence. Keep statements factual, avoid guessing at speeds or causes, and do not discuss fault with the driver or the public.

After the shift: equipment, people and the plan

Equipment

A truck-mounted attenuator that has been struck comes out of service until it is inspected and repaired or replaced according to the manufacturer and the relevant guideline. Damaged signs, barriers and lights are quarantined and recorded, not quietly returned to the yard. Keep anything the police or regulator may want to examine. The truck-mounted attenuator guide covers inspection and certification.

People

Being near a crash, or nearly being hit, is a traumatic event for many people, even if they were not injured. Check on every crew member before they drive home, offer to arrange transport if someone is shaken, and make sure they know how to reach the employee assistance program or other support. Do not pressure anyone to return to the same position the next day. Some reactions appear days later, so follow up.

The plan

Before the site is re-established, review the TGS and controls with the designer and client. Ask whether the speed environment, advance warning, separation or end-of-queue protection need to change. Capture the near misses that led up to the crash too. The work zone intrusion guide covers the prevention side.

Crash response checklist for the crew

• Escape path used, crew warned, headcount complete
• Traffic held where safe, no one standing in live lanes
• 000 called with location, injuries and hazards
• Supervisor and office notified
• First aid given within training, injured not moved unless in danger
• Emergency vehicle access route kept clear
• Scene preserved, anything moved noted with the reason
• Regulator notified immediately if notifiable
• Set-up photographed and recorded once safe
• Damaged equipment and any TMA taken out of service
• Crew welfare checked and support offered

Next steps

Rehearse this sequence at a toolbox talk before you need it, and print it for every ute using the free printable checklists. For notifiable incident rules, see Safe Work Australia and your state regulator, such as SafeWork NSW. For the national field staff guide, see Austroads.