A Take 5 for traffic control is a three-minute check you do at your position before you start: Stop, Look, Assess, Control, Go. This card puts that check on your phone with questions written for traffic controllers, a list of hazards and controls, a photo, your location and your signature. If a critical check fails, it tells you plainly to stop work.
Everything stays on your phone. Nothing you enter, photograph or sign is uploaded.
What the five Take 5 steps mean
| Step | What you do | On this card |
|---|---|---|
| Stop | Pause before starting and think about the task | Your name, site, task, day or night, TGS number; date and time fill in |
| Look | Check the site, yourself and your gear | 17 yes / no / N/A checks, 12 of them critical |
| Assess | Spot hazards and judge how bad they are | Tap common hazards or type your own; rate low, medium or high |
| Control | Do something about each hazard | Write the control and rate the hazard again |
| Go | Start only when it's safe | Photo, GPS, signature and a GO or STOP WORK answer |
The point isn't the paperwork. It's the 3 minutes where you actually look at the bend, the queue, the plant and the escape route before you pick up the bat.
The checks, and why they're critical
The card groups the checks the way you'd walk the site.
The site. Is the approved TGS on site and current, and does the set-up match it? Are the signs and devices in place? Can drivers see you in time to stop? Do you have an escape route? Are you off the travel lane? Do you know where plant will move? Are pedestrians managed?
Conditions. Weather, heat and UV, and at night, lighting and night hi-vis.
You. Fit for work, right PPE, a current ticket, briefed and signed on to the SWMS.
Equipment and comms. Gear checked, radio check done, emergency plan known.
Checks marked Critical are the ones where a No means you shouldn't be standing there yet: no TGS, no sight distance, no escape route, not fit for work, no radio contact between controllers. A No on any of them turns the card to STOP WORK. Fix it, then change the answer.
This lines up with the law. Under the WHS Regulation (s300), if high risk construction work isn't being done the way the SWMS says, it must stop immediately or as soon as it's safe, and only restart in line with the SWMS. The Take 5 is how a controller finds that out at their own position. The SWMS itself is written beforehand; you can build one with the SWMS builder.
Sight distance: the check that catches the most
"Can approaching drivers see you in time to stop?" is the critical check most worth doing properly. In NSW, TS 05492 Table 73 requires at least 1.5 × D to a traffic controller, where D is the speed of the zone drivers are coming from, in metres.
| Approach speed | D | Sight distance to the controller (1.5 × D) |
|---|---|---|
| 40 km/h | 40 m | 60 m |
| 60 km/h | 60 m | 90 m |
| 80 km/h | 80 m | 120 m |
| 100 km/h | 100 m | 150 m |
If you're near a crest, a bend or parked trucks, measure it. The sight distance check does it with your phone's GPS. For other states, use the sight distance on your TGS. The guide to stopping sight distance in work zones explains why it matters.
How the outcome is worked out
- STOP WORK if any critical check is No, or any hazard is still rated high after its control.
- Not finished while checks are unanswered.
- Go with care if only non-critical checks are No, or a hazard is missing its control or second rating.
- GO when every check is answered, nothing critical has failed and every hazard is controlled.
Night checks are N/A automatically on a day shift. Switch the shift to Night and they come back.
The hazard rating is deliberately simple (low, medium, high) because you're doing it standing on the side of a road. The full 5×5 likelihood × consequence matrix belongs in the SWMS.
Worked example: setting up near a crest
Ravi is the second controller on a stop/slow job on a 60 km/h rural road at 6:40 am. His Take 5:
| Item | Answer |
|---|---|
| TGS on site and matching | Yes |
| Drivers can see me in time (needs 90 m) | No: the crest gives about 70 m |
| Escape route | Yes |
| Radio check | Yes |
| Hazards found | Sight distance at the crest (High); sun glare from the east (Medium) |
The card shows STOP WORK with the reason. Ravi radios the supervisor, who moves his position 25 m back from the crest, where the TGS allows it, and notes the change on the site copy. Ravi re-checks: about 95 m now. He changes the answer to Yes and records the control: "moved back 25 m, supervisor approved". The glare hazard gets "safety sunglasses on, hat brim down, watch eastbound traffic closely until the sun is higher", rated low after. The card turns to GO. He signs, adds a photo of the new position, saves it and shares the PDF to the supervisor's phone.
Photo, location and signature
- Photo: take one of your position and the approach. It's shrunk to about 1000 pixels so it fits on the phone.
- Location: one tap adds your GPS position and accuracy. It's shown as coordinates on the card only.
- Signature: sign in the box with your finger. Signing confirms the checks are true.
- Time: the date and time fill in when you open the card, and you can correct them.
Saved cards go into a history on your phone (the last 30). Print one as a PDF to attach to your docket or timesheet, or use Share to send it from your phone. If your phone's storage is full, the card offers to save without the photo.
When to do another Take 5
Do a new card whenever the job changes:
- you move to a different position or the TGS changes
- the weather changes, or it gets dark
- new plant, a new crew member or a school crossing comes into play
- after a near miss or a vehicle intrusion: record it too (see near-miss reporting in traffic control)
Fatigue and heat are the checks people rush. If you've had a short turnaround or a long drive in, answer the fitness check honestly; the guide to fatigue management in traffic control explains why. Supervisors can pair the Take 5 with a traffic control pre-start checklist and keep crew tickets current with the ticket expiry tracker.
A Take 5 doesn't replace the SWMS, the TGS or your supervisor. If something isn't right and the card can't capture it, stop and ask.