On Monday, April 26, Barriere will join other roadway safety professionals from across the country in observing National Work Zone Awareness Week 2021. In its 21st year, the national public awareness campaign spreads the message: We are all responsible for work zone safety.
As the infrastructure construction contractor of choice for our public and industrial customers, most of our “offices” are in work zones that are literally on the road. Accordingly, we have developed core responsibilities around traffic control for the safety of the public and our 430 employees. Our entire workforce will review these responsibilities during their pre-shift meetings every day this week as part of our participation in NWZAW 2021.
Barriere always takes safety seriously and has been participating in NWZAW since 2016 after a drunk driver entered one of our work zones and injured four of our employees. This incident underscored the need for increased awareness of how to behave and drive safely in work zones, and so do the statistics.
There were 762 fatal crashes in work zones resulting in 842 deaths in 2019. Of these fatalities, the vast majority were motorists, passengers and pedestrians and 135 roadway workers were struck and killed on the job.
It is critical for motorists to successfully navigate through work zones so everyone can make it home safely each day.
You can join the national effort to increase work zone safety awareness by participating in NWZAW too.
- Monday, April 26: Join us in the National Stand Down to Prevent Struck-By Incidents by taking time out of your day to think about how you can better support #SafeWorkZonesForAll.
- Tuesday, April 27: Watch the live stream of this year’s National Kickoff Event at 10 AM CST and/or prepare your approach to Go Orange Day, NWZAW’s main work zone awareness event. Watch it here!
- Wednesday, April 28: On #NWZAW #GoOrangeDay, go #Orange4Safety by wearing orange, a visual reminder of work zones. Post photos on social media using hashtags.
- Thursday, April 30: Revisit your intentions from Monday’s Stand Down and commit to acting on them.
- Friday, April 30: Remember to #WatchForUs on the road!