ATSSA Signal May June 2020

American Traffic Safety Services Association 34 Training It could be easy to look at training as a nicety, or something your company does when time allows, but over the years, departments of transportation around the United States, as well as the Federal Highway Administration, have come to realize that effective training for work - ers in the roadway safety infrastructure industry saves lives. JuanM.Morales,anATSSAmasterinstructor and owner of Florida-based J.M. Morales & Associates, said a major turning point came in the early 2000swhenmany state departments of transportation (DOTs) began requiring training and/or certifi - cation for contractors and individuals working on roadways. As early states like Florida and Virginia began requiring training, other states were spurred to do likewise, resulting in more and more trained workers. Hepointedtostatistics that showapeak in work zone fatalities in 2002, with approx - imately 1,300people killed inwork zones. The number steadily declined for years, reaching a low point of 576 fatalities in 2010, according to the National Work Zone Safety Information Clearinghouse. While the number has ebbed and flowed in recent years, it has not come close to the 2002 peak. “It couldbeother reasons, but I personally think that the training deserves credit for a lot of thedrop in fatalities,”Morales said. WhenATSSA incorporated in 1970, it was the product of an experience no one in the industry ever wants to have—losing a worker on a job site. “The owner of a barricade company had to go tell a family that their father wasn’t coming home that night because he was killed in a work zone,” ATSSA Vice Pres - ident of Member Services Donna Clark said. “About seven barricade company ownersmet inthebasementofoneof their homes and said, ‘I never want to have to go tell another family their lovedone isn’t coming home.’” Fromthe beginning, themain tool ATSSA used to combat work zone fatalities was education, in the form of focused train - ing for the individuals who would work on road projects. Clark said that havingDOTs recognize the importanceof trainingand then requiring it for companies working on their roads has been critical to expanding the distri - butionof roadway safety training, aswell as the development of new courses to educatemore workers. “Once the requirement for training was written intothespecifications, youcouldn’t get out on the road unless you had been trained,” Clark said. “From there, it really took off.” SinceClark startedher career at ATSSA in 1998, theorganizationhas grown its train - ingofferings fromtwoclasses toanentire catalog of courses in a variety of subjects, including temporary traffic control, flagger training, pavement marking, pedestrian safety, work zone safety for law enforce - ment, incident response, and guardrail installation. To keep its offerings accurate and timely, ATSSA recruits from a network of expe - rienced subject-matter experts to write, update, and teach its courses. Plus, theAssociation is always looking for ways to improve andexpand its offerings to meet the needs of its members and the industry aswell asmeeting state and federal guidelines. Most recently, ATSSA converted its Traf - fic Control Technician and Traffic Control Supervisor courses intoavirtual format to address the need for trainingwhile social distancing guidelines are in place. TheTrainingDepartment offersan increas - ingnumberofcoursesonlineformaximum convenienceandflexibility. Those include flaggertrainingandATSSA’snewthree-and six-module sign retroreflectivity training, which meets the federal requirements of theManual onUniformTraffic Control ATSSA’s long history of training has grown with members’ needs Training furthers purpose of advancing roadway safety By Emily Freehling for The Signal Donna Clark, vice president of Member Services Juan M. Morales, ATSSA master instructor