Caution: Work Zone Stay Out

SirTreeRat

SirTreeRat

Location
In the Mitten...
I'm sorry for the following; I'm still pissed.

How many people would read the subject title:

Caution:
Work Zone
Stay Out

and <u>not</u> walk onto a/your work zone?

Well, out of the 7 people that walked down the sidewalk during fridays tree removals, all 7 read the signs as a freeking invite to pass though the barricades. Being a City Arborist I can't just tell these people exactly what I want to say to them. 4 of the 7 were warned by my ground crew before they even reach the work zone signs, yet chose to continue on through. The very last lady to walk though during clean-up with the chipper running and coming with-in 5' of. I stopped her and said "You know there are signs back there, that clearly state to stay out of the work zone area." her reply "I'm just crossing the steet, I live right there (pointing to some apartments across the street), then she walked behide the chipper and front of our dump truck.
WHAT THE HELL is wrong with these people?

How can I stop this, without getting physical?
 
Paul,
I agree with your sentiments completely.
What I have learned is that the first word of the sign is most important because people do not read beyond that.

If the first word is 'Caution' people will NOT stop because they think, "Oh, it's like 'proceed with caution'" and so they go their merry way right through the work zone.

Start the sign with: NO
NO access
NO entry
NO walking

Put 'NO' in big and bold letters.

And it doesn't matter what you write after it (tree work, danger, etc.) because it won't be read.

Even this may not stop them but usually it slows them down.

I've seen a cop stand by the sign and people will argue with him about how they must get through!
It is truly amazing AND sad!


-Diane-
 
Well if she just lives right there then its fine. I get this statement ALL the time. people will drive through our cones, that have a STREET completely blocked. 9 times out of ten we have a police detail with us, Massachusetts law luckily. When they reach the detail they say, yeah but im just going right there! Usually this is met with stern words, a running or their license and registration, and at least a warning. If they act like douces they are fined, doubled in a work zone, and sent on their way. I LOVE POLICE DETAILS FOR SAFETY REASONS!
 
I work in the city all the time. I find that blocking the path they are coming from with tape and cones is never enough. So I take large branches and physically block them. They either have to climb over the limbs or go completely around. I'll leave them there till the job is done and we are in clean up because most of the dangerous parts are done.

I wish I had cops with me for those jobs all over the road.
 
Yeah i've found that if you leave some limbs across walk ways or roads that really seems to discourage people more than signs. Like Jman leave them there till you start your final clean-up. People don't like to get dirty and don't like to climb over stuff, leave a mess! I've had people try to go around me when holding a stop sign. One of our other climber had a guy walk right under him after being warned and walking over tape. The climber throw a small (1") limb at him! I've also heard of guys holding out limbs to scratch the side of cars driving around their stop signs or through cones. Serves them right.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah i've found that if you leave some limbs across walk ways or roads that really seems to discourage people more than signs. Like Jman leave them there till you start your final clean-up. People don't like to get dirty and don't like to climb over stuff, leave a mess! I've had people try to go around me when holding a stop sign. One of our other climber had a guy walk right under him after being warned and walking over tape. The climber throw a small (1") limb at him! I've also heard of guys holding out limbs to scratch the side of cars driving around their stop signs or through cones. Serves them right.

[/ QUOTE ]

Prime example of why all states should have police details available!
 
Yeah I deal with this all the time, what I love to do is drop a big limb right in front of them, then call them stupid and blame them 100%. Gets them out of your site fast.

I figure the only way to convert the general public is one person at a time.
 
I work at a university and pedestrians are a part of every job. Sometimes by the hundreds. And for those of you who don't deal with college students, THEY STOP AT NOTHING!. We put up signs and cones string caution tape redirect trafic and they will still walk right on in.I have had a woman push a stoler ,with two children in it , under the caution tape and over some brush right into my drop zone and then stoped there to yell at me about the log in her way. Lately we have been using some of the student temps to stand guard at all the entry points and for now seems to be working.
 
The name for people who walk into work zones:

Cone Heads!

Something that I might consider is using loud whistles and a pointed finger to get the Cone Heads to retreat. No verbal discussion...act like the traffic director cop and just toot away on the whistle as you back them out of the way.
 
Rather than B&amp;M about pedestrians ignoring your signage like they always dependably do. I have found that it is easier, safer and far better for the company's professional image to add a couple well spoken and polite but firm men in addition to the signage that ensure these pedestrians are courteously informed of the danger ahead and personally escorted around the work area if necessary.

This necessity of working high pedestrian jobs should be recognized and factored into the bid accordingly.

Yelling and altercations in the work area only hurts the company's reputation for managing difficult jobs.

jomoco
 
Like willbranch i work at a university too and college students make it to college without understanding or comprehending the word "STOP". we will park the truck across the sidewalks and that seems to help some with the use of excessive amounts of caution tape.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah I deal with this all the time, what I love to do is drop a big limb right in front of them, then call them stupid and blame them 100%.

[/ QUOTE ]

Although I would think it, I would never do that. As a City Employee and a CTSP, my first goal is that no-one gets injured, this includes my Workers, the Public and Myself. Once any non-worker enters the work-zone ALL work must stop, even raking, the focus then turns to getting that person out of the work area. There is so much that could go wrong with dropping a limb in front of someone, the limb could hold longer before dropping (Result: Injury or Death), a piece of the limb could become airborne after impact (Result: Injury or Death), The limb could hit brush end first and become a missile towards a target (Result: Injury or Death). You see my point, if you are dropping stuff while non-workers are with-in 1 1/2 to 2 times the height of the tree, you are only setting yourself up for a lawsuit.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Like willbranch i work at a university too and college students make it to college without understanding or comprehending the word "STOP". we will park the truck across the sidewalks and that seems to help some with the use of excessive amounts of caution tape.

[/ QUOTE ]I also worked at a college (Michigan State), and we hardly had any students walk into the work-zone.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Rather than B&amp;M about pedestrians ignoring your signage like they always dependably do. I have found that it is easier, safer and far better for the company's professional image to add a couple well spoken and polite but firm men in addition to the signage that ensure these pedestrians are courteously informed of the danger ahead and personally escorted around the work area if necessary.

This necessity of working high pedestrian jobs should be recognized and factored into the bid accordingly.

Yelling and altercations in the work area only hurts the company's reputation for managing difficult jobs.

jomoco

[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately we are seriously under-staffed, there is no way they will give us another person. There is a hiring freeze in the city, the only jobs getting re-staffed are police and fire. The economy in Michigan hit the fan about 3 years ago, well before the other states that are now going through what we've been dealing with. With all the foreclosures in the city I work for, I'm surprised they finally replaced our 17 year old bucket truck.

I'm the only working/full time forester for the city, and I have 3 seasonal workers. I would love to have another full time person, to help take the work load off me, but it's out of my hands.
 
This afternoon I setup my first work zone for a pruning job on campus. The tree is in a courtyard so there is very little traffic...and...summer session graduation is Saturday and fall semester starts in a few weeks.

My work zone was defined with 'caution tape' from a light pole and then to 4 foot PVC wands stuck in orange cones.

Three people came up...

First, construction worker=walked insided zone so I cajoled him a bit :(

Second, worker from the coffee shop hauling two big ol' bags of garbage=walked around the zone :)

My supervisor, came on the less side of the tree where I wasn't close to working :)

When school starts I wonder what the cooperation level will be???
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Yeah I deal with this all the time, what I love to do is drop a big limb right in front of them, then call them stupid and blame them 100%.

[/ QUOTE ]

Although I would think it, I would never do that. As a City Employee and a CTSP, my first goal is that no-one gets injured, this includes my Workers, the Public and Myself. Once any non-worker enters the work-zone ALL work must stop, even raking, the focus then turns to getting that person out of the work area. There is so much that could go wrong with dropping a limb in front of someone, the limb could hold longer before dropping (Result: Injury or Death), a piece of the limb could become airborne after impact (Result: Injury or Death), The limb could hit brush end first and become a missile towards a target (Result: Injury or Death). You see my point, if you are dropping stuff while non-workers are with-in 1 1/2 to 2 times the height of the tree, you are only setting yourself up for a lawsuit.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah I think I wrote that post in the same mood as your original post. The truth is I have only done this once, I was already to make the cut when this guy moves my cones to drive through, so I dropped it when his car was within 100'.

Man did it feel good, but I don't usually do things like that because there is too much that could go wrong.

I do think that we need to convert the public one at a time though, but in better ways of course.
 
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