Simón B. Maestra Navarro
Southern Zone Delegate, Sacyr Maintenance
Marco A. García Fraga
HSE Business Partner, Sacyr Maintenance
At Sacyr, accident prevention is not a separate business function, but an integral element considered in all tasks that may involve risk. Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) is integrated into technical and operational processes, planning, and working conditions from the start.
Sacyr Maintenance guarantees a comprehensive service, adhering to the strictest Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) standards, including Road Safety and Quality, to which Sacyr Maintenance has dedicated significant resources in recent years.
While lane closures may not cause the most incidents, they are among the riskiest road maintenance operations. This is due to both the need for vehicles to stop on the shoulder and the exposure of operators crossing the road to place signage and beacons.
Sacyr Maintenance anticipated the guidelines of Service Note 02/2021, "Recommendations for Improving Safety in Maintenance and Other Work Affecting State Roads and Highways." We pioneered aspects outlined in the note, such as in-person road safety training, the acquisition of double-gate vans, and innovative training proposals like "Lane Closures: An Immersive View."
There is no doubt that the advancement in the use of light signaling in maintenance vehicles has greatly improved the protection of equipment, maximizing visibility and minimizing risks. The goal is to visualize the behavior of road maintenance personnel during lane closure setup and takedown and to understand how they are affected by traffic. The goal is not strictly limited to improving the material signalling equipment and compliance with the elements set out in current regulations.
This focuses on visualizing the actions of road maintenance personnel during lane closure setup and takedown and how these actions are impacted by the traffic conditions of the worksite.
New Technologies in Road Management
In an increasingly demanding, digital, and complex environment, where specialization and technology are key factors for the large-scale transformation of service standards, Sacyr Maintenance is committed to innovation, developing a large number of certified projects and lines of research.
The use of drone and 360° camera recording significantly improves the training of our technicians and operators during lane closure setup and takedown on highways. The "immersive vision" approach facilitates interactive training, enabling personnel to minimize on-road risks.
Ante todo, la seguridad
The "Lane Closures: An Immersive View" project involves recording various lane closure setup and takedown operations on highways using drones and 360° cameras in real-world conditions. The aim is to analyze the execution process from an aerial perspective.
The purpose is to analyze the movements of our operators and user reactions to establish procedural guidelines that minimize risks for both workers and road users.
Using these audiovisual media, it is intended to:
- Identify the critical points of the process in which maintenance teams and road users interact.
- Reduce risks and improve road safety for both operators and users.
- Achieve a new approach to improving road safety through the use of new audiovisual technologies.
- Improve procedures and establish instructions for assembling and disassembling lane closures to reduce risk.
- Design training actions based on specific actions for the type of risk to which workers are exposed. Analyze the operation with the workers, from a drone view, to define situations of greater risk.
- Improve the preventive culture in the field of Occupational Road Safety.
- Complement Sacyr Conservación's Road Safety Management System.
- Seek new methodologies to improve the influence on user behavior, as well as to raise awareness, through possible media campaigns, of the need for their collaboration to reduce risks on the road.
In short, the drone's perspective during lane closure setup and takedown allows for an in-depth analysis of the associated risks. Interactive sessions with technicians and operators have identified the safest procedures for moving around the work zone with the necessary vehicles, signage, and beacons.
Analyzing the time taken also allows us to assess the available equipment (types of signals, transport supports, etc.), identifying opportunities for improvement and optimization. The aerial perspective also helps us assess the characteristics of the road and identify infrastructure improvements (specific problem areas, narrow shoulders, etc.).
