A traffic management plan sets out how vehicles, plant and people will move around a job, and how workers will be kept clear of traffic. Queensland’s work health and safety laws do not say that every workplace must have one. The duty comes from the general duty of care, the rules for powered mobile plant, and the rules for construction work on or next to a road. For road work, the approved code of practice says the plan should form part of, or be attached to, the principal contractor’s WHS management plan.
What is a traffic management plan?
It is a plan for controlling traffic risks while work is under way. On a roadside job it covers how road users get through, around or past the work area. Inside a yard, depot or building site it covers how trucks, forklifts, excavators and pedestrians share the space.
You will also hear the term traffic guidance scheme. The Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008 (Qld) talks about plans and schemes together. As a rule of thumb, the plan is the whole-job document and a scheme is the drawn layout of signs and devices for a stretch of road. Road managers can use the terms differently, so ask which one they want to see.
Do you need one in Queensland?
Neither the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld) nor the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld) uses the words “traffic management plan”. Whether you need one depends on your risks and the work you do:
- Every PCBU. A person conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers and of other people put at risk by the work (section 19 of the WHS Act). Traffic is a hazard like any other: identify it, eliminate or minimise the risk, and review your controls (sections 34 to 38 of the WHS Regulation).
- Anyone with powered mobile plant. The person with management or control of the plant must manage the risk of it colliding with any person or thing (section 214 of the WHS Regulation), and must ensure it does not collide with pedestrians or other powered mobile plant (section 215(4)). Where a collision is possible, the plant must have a warning device (section 215(5)). The maximum penalty for each of those two offences is 60 penalty units.
- Construction work on or next to a road. Construction work carried out on, in or adjacent to a road, railway, shipping lane or other traffic corridor that is in use by traffic other than pedestrians is high risk construction work (section 291(n)). So is construction work in an area of a workplace where powered mobile plant is moving (section 291(o)). Before that work starts, the PCBU must make sure a safe work method statement (SWMS) is prepared (section 299, maximum penalty 60 penalty units).
- Construction projects costing $250,000 or more. The principal contractor must prepare a written WHS management plan before work starts (sections 292 and 309). The principal contractor must also manage the risks to health and safety from traffic in the vicinity of the workplace that may be affected by the construction work (section 315(c)). Traffic arrangements are not on the Regulation’s list of required contents, but the code says a traffic management plan or scheme for road work should be part of the plan or attached to it.
“Construction work” has its own meaning in section 289 of the WHS Regulation, and minor testing, maintenance or repair work is excluded. The code says road work that is not construction work does not need a SWMS, but the PCBU must still manage workers’ health and safety. If you are unsure, ask WorkSafe Queensland. Our guide to high risk construction work in Queensland covers the full list.
Working on or beside a public road
The code says that for road or footpath closures, advice and approvals should be obtained from the relevant authorities, such as the local council or the Queensland Police Service. Most approvals and permits for road work sit outside this guide, so contact whoever manages the road before you finalise the plan. One WHS rule does deal with closures: where a principal contractor closes an adjoining area as a control for falling objects, section 315M of the WHS Regulation requires written approval from the authority or person who controls the area before construction work starts, and the authority’s closure measures must be used.
The code points to Part 3 of the Manual of Uniform Traffic Control Devices for the signs, devices and standard traffic guidance diagrams used at road works, and says signs and devices are to be used in line with it unless a competent person’s risk assessment shows another arrangement is satisfactory. The manual is a technical document the code refers to. It is not part of the WHS Act or Regulation, and this guide does not reproduce it. The code is an older preserved code, listed as one in the Work Health and Safety (Codes of Practice) Notice 2022. Like any approved code it is guidance rather than law: a business must either follow it or manage the risk in a way that gives an equivalent or higher standard of safety (section 26A of the WHS Act), and a court can rely on it when deciding what is reasonably practicable (section 275). Ask the road manager which documents it expects for your job.
What to put in a traffic management plan
The code’s planning and record-keeping sections give a sound outline. Adapt it to your job:
- Job details. Where, what, when, who is responsible and how to reach them out of hours.
- Hazards and risks. Traffic and moving plant, plus setting up and removing the traffic arrangements, night work, heat and fatigue.
- Traffic demand and routing. How much road or site space must stay open and at what times, and whether traffic goes through, past or around the work area.
- Access and egress. Safe ways in and out of the site for workers, trucks and deliveries.
- Traffic control. What controls movement: traffic controllers, portable traffic signals, police or other means.
- Other road users. Pedestrians (including people with disability), cyclists, school children, local residents, emergency vehicles, buses, and over-dimensional or restricted vehicles.
- Signs, barriers and devices. What goes where. The code says to put them up before work starts, check and maintain them, and remove them as soon as practicable, keeping appropriate signs until all work, including later line marking, is finished.
- Separating people from plant. Exclusion areas, barriers, spotters and warning devices on plant.
- People and training. Who is trained and accredited for what, and what induction everyone gets.
- Emergencies. Access for emergency vehicles, who to call, and what to do after a crash or near miss.
- Checks and records. Daily checks before work, during the shift, at close-down and after hours, with a record of any changes to signs and devices.
- Consultation and review. How you consulted workers and other businesses (sections 46 and 47 of the WHS Act), and when you will revise the plan.
The code describes three levels of planning:
| Type of job | What the code says planning should include |
|---|---|
| Short-term and mobile work | Procedures, plus sets of signs and devices that cover the routine tasks workers will meet. |
| Simple part-road closure | At minimum, a sketch of the protective devices and delineation on a plan, and a list of the devices needed. |
| Complex traffic arrangements | Plans of temporary traffic paths and device positions (a separate set for each stage), after-hours arrangements, and instructions for installing, changing and removing devices, planned well before the job starts. |
Who writes it, and what training do they need?
The PCBU or principal contractor must make sure the plan exists and is followed. The code says people who design a plan should be trained in temporary traffic management planning by an approved provider, and people who put it into effect should be trained too. It also says PCBUs who employ traffic controllers must use only accredited traffic controllers, accredited under the Transport and Main Roads scheme. Course names and accreditation rules change, so check the current ones with Transport and Main Roads.
How it fits with your SWMS and WHS management plan
The plan and the SWMS do different jobs. The traffic management plan sets the layout and rules for moving traffic. The SWMS describes how each high risk task will be done safely. Under section 299 of the WHS Regulation, a SWMS must:
- identify the work that is high risk construction work;
- state the hazards and the risks to health and safety they create;
- describe the control measures; and
- describe how those measures will be implemented, monitored and reviewed.
If the work is part of a construction project, the SWMS must be prepared taking the WHS management plan into account (section 299(3)(a)(ii)). The PCBU must also put arrangements in place to make sure the work is done in line with the SWMS, and if it is not, the work must stop immediately or as soon as it is safe to do so (section 300). The code adds that traffic controllers do high risk construction work and need a SWMS too, and its appendix has a sample for work on or next to a road. Our Traffic Management SWMS covers the SWMS side. If you are the principal contractor, the site safety management plan template gives you a document to build your WHS management plan around.
Traffic inside a yard, depot or warehouse
The same thinking applies away from public roads, where forklifts, trucks, loaders and delivery vehicles share space with pedestrians. The person managing or controlling a workplace must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, that the workplace and its entry and exit are without risks to anyone’s health and safety (section 20 of the WHS Act), and the powered mobile plant rules above apply. Section 218 of the WHS Regulation also requires industrial lift trucks to be operated so that risks to the operator and to other people at or near the workplace, from systems of work and the environment, are eliminated so far as is reasonably practicable or, failing that, minimised.
The right controls depend on your risk assessment. Sections 35 and 36 of the WHS Regulation put elimination first, then substitution, isolation and engineering controls, ahead of administrative ones, so physical separation is stronger than signs and instructions alone. Typical controls:
- separate pedestrian and vehicle routes, with physical barriers where the risk is high;
- one-way flow, less reversing and a site speed limit;
- marked loading and unloading zones, with visitor and staff parking away from plant;
- warning devices on plant, and a spotter when a driver cannot see (see our guide on using a spotter effectively); and
- induction and sign-in for drivers and visitors, good lighting, and high-visibility clothing in low light.
The road transport management policy and procedure template and the forklift SWMS help you write these controls down. Our guide on working near mobile equipment is a good briefing for crews.
Records and review
The code recommends daily records of sign arrangements and changes and, after any crash or incident involving the public, recording and photographing the sign arrangement in place. Under section 38 of the WHS Regulation you must review your controls when they are not working, before a change that could create a new risk, when a new hazard is identified, and when consultation or a health and safety representative says a review is needed. A death, serious injury or dangerous incident involving traffic or plant may be a notifiable incident, so read our guide to notifiable incidents in Queensland. Drivers and traffic controllers often work long or night shifts, so also see our guide to managing fatigue at work.
This guide is general information, not legal advice. Check the current law or talk to WorkSafe Queensland for your situation.
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