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The Tree Care Industry Association (TCIA) wants the owners, managers and safety directors of tree care companies around the U.S. to know that effective, low-cost training in temporary traffic control is available.
TCIA is assisting the American Traffic Safety Services Association (ATSSA), a trade association dedicated to making America ’s roadways safer, with a series of grant-funded workshops.
ATSSA was awarded a four-year, $11.9 million grant from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on to provide roadway safety training nationwide for workers and others who make their livelihood on America ’s roadways.
Initial training efforts will focus on 16 states identified by FHWA as having opportunities to make significant progress toward national road safety goals.
According to Donna Clark, ATSSA’s director of training and products, “ATSSA training will now be more available, more affordable, and will take place initially in locations where statistics tell us it’s needed the most. We look at the next four years as a tremendous opportunity to potentially save thousands of lives.”
The training component of the grant is comprised of a wide variety of courses that includes training for utility workers. Since the needs for temporary traffic control at utility and arborist work sites are so similar, TCIA partnered with ATSSA to pick training locations and market the training to arborists. Other recipients of the training will be state and local public officials as well as other types of contractors.
The one-day (eight hour) “Utility” course provides an introduction to temporary traffic control for utility workers and others whose actions may affect safety. It teaches concepts, techniques and practices in the installation and maintenance of traffic control devices in accordance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD).
The course covers:
- Sources of standards and guidelines
- Fundamental principles of temporary traffic control
- Component part of a typical utility operation
- Traffic control devices and their requirements
- High-visibility safety apparel
- Worker Protection
- Typical utility applications
- Short duration lane closures
- Work close to the travel lane with and without lane encroachment
- Work beyond the shoulder
The first partnered workshop is scheduled for Wednesday, November 7 at TCI EXPO.
In addition to the Hartford, CT course, the following courses are scheduled:
- Columbus, OH – December 19, 2007
- West Palm Beach, FL – January 3, 2008*
- Philadelphia, PA - February 28, 2008
- Chicago, IL - March 3, 2008
- Milwaukee, WI - March 26, 2008
- Los Angeles, CA - May 16, 2008
- Columbia, SC - May 20, 2008
For Certified Treecare Safety Professionals, this workshop will provide eight professional development CEUs.
To learn about upcoming workshops or to register, please visit ATSSA’s web site, www.ATSSA.com, or call 877-642-4637.
* - Workshop content is specific to rules in the State of Florida.
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