2.2Application#

Warrants for the use of PTCDs are found in Section 5.10.1 of the QGTTM Part 3. Any decisions not to use PTCDs in these situations, will need to be supported by a risk assessment (the risk assessment must address why it is considered that the use of a Traffic Controller with a STOP / SLOW bat is safer than using a PTCD at that site and the measures that will be implemented to reduce the potential risks to the Traffic Controller).

Commentary

Transport and Main Roads’ vision is that ‘there should never be an incident in which a Traffic Controller is killed or seriously injured at work’. This chapter was developed to facilitate the deployment of PTCD's such as light weight PTSS and boom barriers that allow either a single Traffic Controller (or in some cases, two or more Traffic Controllers) to monitor and control PTCDs deployed at roadworks from a safe location. The benefits of the technology are: significant workplace health and safety improvement (as well as being out of harm’s way, Traffic Controllers can locate themselves in the shade, where it is cooler, and they have reduced sun exposure); ability to manage traffic with one fewer Traffic Controller, in many cases, which will encourage rapid uptake as a result of labour cost savings and largely obviate the need to mandate circumstances in which portable traffic signals be deployed (the Supplement does however elevate Transport and Main Roads expectation that portable signals be used in high-risk locations), and; ease of installation and operation, when compared with current trailer mounted traffic signal systems that comply with AS 4191.