Case Study to Evaluate Work-Zone Safety Technologies in Highway Construction
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 25, Issue 3
Abstract
The construction industry is known for its conservative approach toward adopting new, emerging technologies. This conservative approach for adopting technology is caused by multiple factors including the lack of adequate resources to guide construction practitioners in the process of evaluating whether a construction firm should adopt a certain technology or not. Previous studies have already proposed rigorous protocols for evaluating work-zone technologies, but the implementation of such protocols is still unclear to many construction practitioners. The objective of this study is to provide a case study example of how evaluation protocols can be used in practice to determine whether a firm should adopt a certain work-zone technology. The case study focused on assessing the usefulness of commercially available work-zone intrusion alert technologies (WZIATs). The results of the evaluation revealed that some WZIATs could be more attractive to construction organizations and agencies in terms of providing louder alarms, being more mobile, and allowing a higher transmission range. The case study example discussed in this study is expected to provide invaluable practical information to practitioners in the construction industry interested in evaluating and adopting emerging technologies.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Data Availability Statement
Some or all data, models, or code that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request, such as the following:
•
Survey results.
•
Controlled and field assessment results.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported, in part, through funding from the Oregon DOT and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The authors thank all of the Oregon DOT and construction personnel involved in the CPs for their interest and input into the study and for their extra efforts made to assist the researchers. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of ODOT, FHWA, or study participants.
References
Abdelmohsen, A. Z., and K. El-Rayes. 2017. “Optimizing the planning of highway work zones to maximize safety and mobility.” J. Manage. Eng. 34 (1): 04017048. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ME.1943-5479.0000570.
Awolusi, I., and E. D. Marks. 2019. “Active work zone safety: Preventing accidents using intrusion sensing technologies.” Front. Built Environ. 5 (Mar): 21. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbuil.2019.00021.
Brown, H., C. Sun, and T. Cope. 2015. “Evaluation of mobile work zone alarm systems.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2485 (1): 42–50. https://doi.org/10.3141/2485-06.
Bryden, J., and L. Andrew. 1999. “Serious and fatal injuries to workers on highway construction projects.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1657 (1): 42–47. https://doi.org/10.3141/1657-06.
Bryden, J., L. Andrew, and J. Fortuniewicz. 2010. “Intrusion accidents on highway construction projects.” Transp. Res. Rec. 1715 (1): 30–35. https://doi.org/10.3141/1715-05.
Burkett, G., V. Her, and S. Velinsky. 2009. Development of new kinds of mobile safety barriers. Davis, CA: AHMCT Research Center, Univ. of California at Davis, California Dept. of Transportation.
Choe, S., F. Leite, D. Seedah, and C. Caldas. 2014. “Evaluation of sensing technology for the prevention of backover accidents in construction work zones.” J. Inf. Technol. Constr. 19 (1): 1–19.
Ferreira, C., S. S. Kumar, and D. M. Abraham. 2017. “Using backing cameras to prevent work zone accidents involving mobile equipment.” Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 22 (4): 04017021. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)SC.1943-5576.0000343.
FHWA (Federal Highway Administration). 2017. “Facts and statistics: Work zone safety.” Accessed June 30, 2019. https://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/wz/resources/facts_stats.htm.
Fyhrie, P. 2016. “Work zone intrusion alarms for highway workers: Preliminary investigation.” Accessed January 21, 2020. https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/research-innovation-system-information/documents/f0017038-work-zone-warning-preliminary-investigation.pdf.
Gambatese, J., L. Hyun Woo, and C. Nnaji. 2017. Work zone intrusion alert technology: Assessment and practical guidelines. Salem, OR: Oregon Dept. of Transportation.
Gambatese, J., and F. Zhang. 2016. “Impact of advisory signs on vehicle speeds in highway nighttime paving project work zones.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2555 (1): 65–71. https://doi.org/10.3141/2555-08.
Jafarnejad, A., J. Gambatese, and S. Hernandez. 2017. “Influence of truck-mounted radar speed signs in controlling vehicle speed for mobile maintenance operations: Oregon case study.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2617 (1): 19–26. https://doi.org/10.3141/2617-03.
Karakhan, A., S. Rajendran, J. Gambatese, and C. Nnaji. 2018. “Measuring and evaluating safety maturity of construction contractors: Multicriteria decision-making approach.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 144 (7): 04018054. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001503.
Karakhan, A., Y. Xu, C. Nnaji, and O. Alsaffar. 2019. “Technology alternatives for workplace safety risk mitigation in construction: Exploratory study.” In Advances in informatics and computing in civil and construction engineering, 823–829. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
Marks, E., and J. Teizer. 2013. “Method for testing proximity detection and alert technology for safe construction equipment operation.” Constr. Manage. Econ. 31 (6): 636–646. https://doi.org/10.1080/01446193.2013.783705.
Martin, J., A. Rozas, and A. Araujo. 2016. “A WSN-based intrusion alarm system to improve safety in road work zones.” J. Sens. 2016: 8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/7048141.
NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). 2014. “Fatality analysis reporting system (FARS).” Accessed June 30, 2019. http://www.nhtsa.gov/FARS.
Nnaji, C., J. Gambatese, and H. W. Lee. 2018a. “Work zone intrusion: Technology to reduce injuries and fatalities.” Prof. Saf. 63 (4): 36–41.
Nnaji, C., J. Gambatese, H. W. Lee, and F. Zhang. 2019. “Improving construction work zone safety using technology: A systematic review of applicable technologies.” J. Traffic Transp. Eng. 7 (1): 61–75. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtte.2019.11.001.
Nnaji, C., H. W. Lee, A. Karakhan, and J. Gambatese. 2018b. “Developing a decision-making framework to select safety technologies for highway construction.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 144 (4): 04018016. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001466.
Novosel, C. 2014. “Evaluation of advanced safety perimeter systems for Kansas temporary work zones.” M.S. thesis, Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering, Univ. of Kansas.
NWZSIC (National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse). 2017. “Work zone fatal crashes and fatalities.” Accessed June 29, 2019. https://www.workzonesafety.org/crash-information/work-zone-fatal-crashes-fatalities/#national.
Okpala, I., C. Nnaji, and A. Karakhan. 2020. “Utilizing emerging technologies for construction safety risk mitigation.” Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 25 (2): 04020002. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)SC.1943-5576.0000468.
Park, J., E. Marks, Y. K. Cho, and W. Suryanto. 2015. “Performance test of wireless technologies for personnel and equipment proximity sensing in work zones.” J. Constr. Eng. Manage. 142 (1): 04015049. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)CO.1943-7862.0001031.
Park, J., X. Yang, Y. K. Cho, and J. Seo. 2017. “Improving dynamic proximity sensing and processing for smart work-zone safety.” Autom. Constr. 84 (Dec): 111–120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2017.08.025.
Sanni, S. 2019. “Evaluation of work zone intrusion alarm systems.” M.S. thesis, Civil Engineering (Transportation), California State Univ.
Schrock, S. D., E. J. Fitzsimmons, T. Lindheimer, M. H. Wang, and Y. Bai. 2014. “Work zone positive protection policy guidance: Synthesis of devices and state of practice.” In Proc., Transportation Research Board 93rd Annual Meeting (No. 14-5574). Washington, DC: Transportation Research Board.
Teizer, J., B. Allread, C. Fullerton, and J. Hinze. 2010. “Autonomous pro-active real-time construction worker and equipment operator proximity safety alert system.” Autom. Constr. 19 (5): 630–640. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2010.02.009.
Theiss, L., T. Lindheimer, and G. L. Ullman. 2018. “Closed course performance testing of a work zone intrusion alarm system.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2672 (16): 57–67. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361198118796736.
Theiss, L., M. Pratt, G. Ullman, and S. Maxwell. 2014. “Evaluation of cost-effectiveness of steady-burn warning lights in work zones.” Transp. Res. Rec. 2458 (1): 65–73. https://doi.org/10.3141/2458-08.
Tymvios, N., and J. Gambatese. 2014. “Evaluation of a mobile work zone barrier system.” In Proc., Construction Research Congress 2014: Construction in a Global Network, 1762–1771. Reston, VA: Construction Research Congress.
Zech, W. C., S. B. Mohan, and J. Dmochowski. 2005. “Evaluation of rumble strips and police presence as speed control measures in highway work zones.” Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 10 (4): 267–275. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0680(2005)10:4(267).
Zech, W. C., S. B. Mohan, and J. Dmochowski. 2008. “Evaluation of messages on changeable message signs as a speed control measure in highway work zones.” Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 13 (1): 11–18. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)1084-0680(2008)13:1(11).
Zhang, F., and J. Gambatese. 2017. “Highway construction work-zone safety: Effectiveness of traffic-control devices.” Pract. Period. Struct. Des. Constr. 22 (4): 04017010. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)SC.1943-5576.0000327.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 25 • Issue 3 • August 2020
Copyright
©2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Dec 6, 2019
Accepted: Feb 10, 2020
Published online: Apr 30, 2020
Published in print: Aug 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Sep 30, 2020
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.