Running a Live Operations Board: Knowing Where Every Crew Is at 7 am

Live operations traffic control means having one view of every shift running today, who is on it and what stage it has reached, so the office knows by 7 am which crews are set up, which are late and which have a problem. A simple board with clear statuses, escalation times and ready back-up options does most of the work.

Without a board, the first sign of a missing crew is often a phone call from an angry site manager at 7:15 am. With one, the allocator sees at 6:10 am that a crew has not done their pre-start, rings them, finds the ute has a flat tyre and has the client told before the excavator is unloaded.

What the board needs to show

Keep the board to one screen. Each row is a shift.

Sort by crew due time, earliest first. The rows at the top are the ones that need attention first.

A small set of statuses

Statuses only work if crews update them. Keep them few and quick to record from a phone.

1. Confirmed: the crew accepted the shift the day before.
2. Pre-start done: the crew has completed the vehicle and personal pre-start checks.
3. On site: the crew has arrived.
4. Ready: set-up is complete, the start-of-shift inspection is recorded and the client has been told.
5. Finished: pack-down complete and docket signed.

Plus three flags: late, issue (vehicle, equipment, site problem) and incident.

In NSW practice, work-site traffic control is inspected at the start and end of every shift and at intervals during it, recorded on the project's forms. Linking "ready" to the start-of-shift inspection means the board also shows whether that record exists. Pre-start checks themselves are covered in our daily pre-start checklist.

Escalation times

The board is only useful if someone acts when a status does not change. Set simple rules and write them down.

The exact times are a company decision based on your travel distances and job types. What matters is that they are written down and the person on the board follows them.

Calling a client with bad news

When a crew will be late, the client call is where most goodwill is won or lost. Make it early and make it useful. A simple script:

1. "This is the allocator from the traffic control company, about your job at … this morning."
2. "Your crew will be ready at about … instead of …, because …" Give the real reason in one line.
3. "Here is what we have done about it." A replacement controller, a spare vehicle, a crew on the way.
4. "Does that change anything for your plant or deliveries?" Listen, and note anything the team leader needs to know.
5. "I'll call you again if anything changes, and the team leader will confirm when you're ready to start."

Write the call on the board's notes column with the time. If the client later disputes waiting time or lateness, you have a record of what was said and when.

Worked example: a busy Tuesday morning

Example scenario: a traffic control company has 14 shifts starting between 6:00 am and 8:00 am. The allocator runs the board from 4:45 am. Everything below is a typical pattern, not a real company.

4:45 am. The allocator opens the board. All 14 shifts were confirmed yesterday afternoon except one, where the controller did not reply. The allocator rang last night and confirmed by phone, and noted it on the row.

5:05 am. A controller on a 7:00 am lane closure texts in sick. The allocator checks the on-call list. The first person on the list finished a night shift at 2:00 am, so the company's fatigue limits rule them out. The second person is available, holds the right card and has done the project induction. Confirmed by phone, the crew list updated, and the team leader told who is joining. Our guide to rostering traffic controllers covers building on-call lists that make this quick.

5:40 am. One 6:30 am crew has not done their pre-start. At the escalation time the allocator rings the team leader, who has overslept. They are on the road ten minutes later. The allocator rings the client to say the crew will be ready about fifteen minutes late and asks if that affects the plant.

6:05 am. A team leader flags an issue: the ute will not start. The allocator checks the board for a spare vehicle at the depot and a crew near it, arranges for the spare to be loaded and driven out, and tells the client the expected ready time. The breakdown is logged for the fleet manager. Our vehicle breakdown plan sets out the full response.

6:45 am. Ten crews show "on site". The allocator scans for anything not moving.

7:05 am. Thirteen shifts show "ready". The fourteenth is the one with the spare ute; it shows ready at 7:25 am. The client was told at 6:05 am and adjusted the plant start.

7:30 am. The allocator writes a two-line summary for the operations manager: one sick call covered, one late start of fifteen minutes, one breakdown with a twenty-five minute delay, all clients told before their work start.

What made this work: confirmations the day before, a written on-call list with fatigue limits respected, escalation times, a spare vehicle and early client calls. None of it is complicated; it just has to be done every day.

Setting up the night before

Most morning problems are solved the afternoon before. Before the allocator goes home:

• ☐ Every shift for tomorrow is confirmed by the crew.
• ☐ Every crew member holds the cards and inductions their shift needs.
• ☐ Fatigue limits are respected for anyone finishing a late shift.
• ☐ Vehicles are allocated and loaded against the plan.
• ☐ Spare vehicle and on-call list are ready.
• ☐ Site addresses and work positions are clear.
• ☐ Client contacts for each shift are on the board.
• ☐ The person running the board tomorrow knows they are on.

Unconfirmed shifts are where many morning gaps start; our article on reducing no-shows in traffic control crews covers how to tighten them.

Using the board for safety

A live board is not just about punctuality. If crews record when they are on site, ready and finished, the office can see when someone has gone quiet. That matters most for:

• Lone workers, such as a single controller on a footpath closure.
• Night shifts, when fatigue is higher and fewer people are around.
• Remote or regional sites with patchy phone coverage.

Agree check-in times for these shifts and treat a missed check-in as an escalation, not a nuisance. A board supports, but does not replace, a proper lone worker procedure with duress options. Our guide to lone worker safety in traffic control explains what that should include. For WHS duties, check current requirements with SafeWork NSW or your state regulator, and see Safe Work Australia for national guidance, including fatigue.

The end-of-day close-out

The board does not stop at 7:30 am. The afternoon matters just as much, because that is when overruns, missing dockets and tired crews show up.

Through the afternoon, the person on the board watches for:

• Shifts running past their planned finish. Ring the team leader: is it a client overrun, a problem, or just a missing status update? An overrun may push a crew towards the company's fatigue limits or into tomorrow's rest break.
• Finished shifts without a signed docket. Chase it the same day while the client contact is still on site. A docket chased a week later is far harder to get signed.
• Equipment left on site overnight. Make sure it is covered by the plan and that any after-hours inspection is rostered.
• Incidents and near misses flagged during the day, so the report is started while details are fresh.
• Changes for tomorrow that came up on site, such as a client asking for an earlier start or an extra controller.

At the end of the day the board should show every shift as finished, with a docket, or with a clear note explaining why not. Hand anything open to the person running tomorrow morning's board, in writing.

Common mistakes

• Too many statuses, so crews stop updating them.
• No owner, so two people assume the other is watching.
• No escalation times, so a missing status sits unnoticed until the client calls.
• Calling clients late. A call at 6:05 am is an update; a call at 7:10 am is an apology.
• Ignoring fatigue in a rush. The fastest replacement is not always a safe one.
• Not recording the morning. Without a log, the same problems repeat.

Next steps

Start tomorrow with a simple board, five statuses and written escalation times, and review the morning log at the end of the week. TrafWise gives you a live operations view of today's shifts, alongside shift offers, pre-start checks and timesheets in the crew app.