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The 2017 T2 Training Calendar is available!
Click here to view training opportunities available in 2017.
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"Lifting Safety: Tips to Help Prevent Back Injuries." Click here to view this informative Safety Brief to share with your crew.
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2017 Northeast Transportation Safety Conference
Road Safety Matters - Tech, Trends & Tomorrow
October 24-25, 2017
Radisson Hotel - Cromwell, CT
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Have You Liked the T2 Center's Facebook Page?
The T2 Center's Facebook page has a great mix of informative posts, fun graphics, continuing education info and local transportation news.
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Follow Us!
Use these links to get more information about the Connecticut Technology Transfer (T2) Center:
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Innovation Station: CT's Creative Solutions Award Winner - Town of Bloomfield's Construction Trailer
The Connecticut Creative Solutions Award program was developed by the T2 Center to recognize the initiative and innovative thinking of public agency transportation staff in the development of tools, equipment modifications, and processes that increase safety, reduce cost, improve efficiency, and improve the quality of transportation.
One Creative Solutions Award winner, the Town of Bloomfield's public works department, created a c
onstruction trailer. The Town saw inefficiencies in their job preparation and clean up tasks; in many cases, multiple trips to the garage were required to collect forgotten tools, and clean up took too long because tools were often misplaced at the end of the day.
The Town came up with an idea to
design a construction trailer to solve the problems. It is a landscape-style trailer that holds all of their equipment in one spot. The ramp allows all of the wheeled equipment to be loaded and unloaded with ease; thereby reducing risk to staff. It is also equipped with a 25-gallon water tank to supply the road saw, rock saw and demo saw and provide additional support for the mason truck and clean up. A toolbox-mounted solar panel aids in keeping trailer safety strobe lights on at all times - even if not connected to the truck.
For more information on this innovative idea (page 39 of the guide) and other great solutions, click here for the online Connecticut Creative Solutions Guide.
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Tips from Tony
Have you ever tried to drive across a busy intersection and not been able to because a vehicle was blocking access for other vehicles or pedestrians?
Find the answer at the bottom of the newsletter.
If you have roadway safety questions, please contact:
Anthony Lorenzetti, P.E. - Safety Circuit Rider
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Fairfield Receives Prestigious ISSA Award
Congratulations to the Town of Fairfield on receiving The International Slurry Surfacing Association (ISSA) Award for Excellence in Pavement Preservation. Under the leadership of Scott Bartlett, Superintendent of Public Works, and with the support of Public Works Director Joe Michaelangelo, the Town has become one of the most cost-effective public agencies in pavement management. They continually strive to improve upon their program each year and because of their proven
success, many agencies look to them for guidance in starting or expanding their
own programs.
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Scott Bartlett & Joe Michaelangelo Photo Credit: NE APWA |
The most valuable physical asset of many
communities is their paved roadway network, and Fairfield officials take very seriously their fiduciary obligation to manage the town's 288 center-line mile network responsibly (275 miles of roads, plus the equivalent of 13 miles in parking lots).
To learn more about Fairfield's accomplishments and pavement management program, visit the APWA's New England Chapter's
Spring 2017 Chapter Chatter
(newsletter).
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Advice from CIRMA: Warm Weather Exposures - Dealing with Heat Stress
Many municipal, fire, police, and public school employees, as well as public school students, perform physical or sports activities on hot and/or humid summer days, putting them at risk for heat-related illnesses. Heat stress, especially heat stroke, can be life threatening, unfortunately these occupational illnesses are almost always preventable.
Who is at risk?
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While everyone is at some risk from
high temperatures, people with
chronic health conditions
(such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, or obesity) or who are
over age 35
are more susceptible to heat illness.
- Workers new to outdoor jobs are also at high risk.
- People who are not acclimatized to the heat. The incidence of heat-related illness spikes on the first hot days of summer and during the first days of sports practice, before the victim becomes acclimatized to the heat.
CONN-OSHA
recommends
that public employers:
- Provide workers with water, rest, and shade.
- Allow new or returning workers to gradually increase workloads and take more frequent breaks as they acclimatize, or build tolerance for working in the heat.
- Plan for emergencies and train workers on prevention. (CIRMA's Dealing with Heat Stress 30-minute E-Learning training program helps employees understand the health risks associated with heat stress, identify methods for minimizing the effects of heat, and recognize the symptoms of heat stroke and heat exhaustion in themselves and others).
- Monitor workers for signs of illness.
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Crash Database Developed at UConn Gets National Attention
An interactive public database that provides unprecedented levels of detail for thousands of Connecticut motor vehicle crashes is drawing the attention of other states interested in replicating the model. The database was built by UConn's transportation engineers and information technology experts.
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A sample from the database showing a detailed diagram of a crash.
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More than six years in the making, the
Connecticut Crash Data Repository is
becoming an essential tool for transportation safety engineers, regional planning agencies, police departments, and town leaders seeking to improve safety on Connecticut's highways and roads.
Interest in the online database extends far beyond Connecticut. Officials in Massachusetts, New York, Vermont, and South Carolina have contacted UConn transportation safety engineers in recent months, inquiring about the database and how they might duplicate the system in their state.
"These data visualization tools are becoming a national trend," says Dr. Eric Jackson, director of the Connecticut Transportation Safety Research Center, which built the database and keeps it up to date.
Dr. Jackson says Connecticut's database is highly interactive, accessible to the public, and allows for rapid, real-time analysis of data to identify trouble spots and trends.
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Tips from Tony ~ Answer
Section 3B.17 of the
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) provides treatments available to address this situation at unsignalized intersections. In addition, Section 14-250b of the Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) helps to regulate motor vehicles from obstructing signalized intersections by allowing municipalities to adopt ordinances that designate signalized intersections where blocking is prohibited and subject to fine.
For more information, click here to view our newest Tech Brief: "DO NOT BLOCK INTERSECTION - Signs and Markings."
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If you have any ideas or suggestions for future Connecticut Crossroads topics, please feel free to email the designer Regina Hackett at regina.hackett@uconn.edu.
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