Get Your Head in the Game with UAPA’s Pre-Season Safety Initiative Construction and asphalt projects pose significant safety risks, including fatal falls, struck-by incidents from heavy equipment, electrocution, and caught-in-between hazards. Asphalt work specifically carries risks of severe burns, respiratory issues from fumes, and skin irritations, demanding rigorous PPE and safety protocols. Approximately 1,000+ construction workers die annually in the U.S. (1,075 in 2023), with paving and road construction being particularly dangerous. Road construction specifically causes about 89 worker deaths annually, while paving operators face a high fatal injury rate of 46.7 per 100,000 workers, 13 times higher than average. As the paving season kicked off across Utah, UAPA also kicked off its new safety training initiative — Pre-Season: Get Your Head in the Game. The first class was held in Price at the end of March, and the attendance let us know that our focus on safety for our members was equally met by our members’ engagement with these classes. Pre-Season: Get Your Head in the Game is a statewide, in-person training initiative led by the Utah Asphalt Pavement Association (UAPA), supported by UDOT and UHP, and is partially funded through a safety grant from the State of Utah. The focus of this safety training was to prepare Utah’s asphalt workforce — contractors, subcontractors, cities, counties, and agency partners — for a safe, compliant, and productive paving season. This course establishes a shared, practical foundation around work-zone safety, internal traffic control, daily planning, mental preparedness, and emergency response. The program emphasizes what crews must know before the first ton is placed, including certifications, PPE expectations, equipment awareness, and how to respond when something goes wrong. Each session opened with a video welcome from Carlos Braceras (UDOT) and closed with a video from Governor Spencer Cox — reinforcing statewide alignment and expectations — followed by remarks from a local dignitary. UDOT participation and local first responders are integrated throughout the program. The course focuses on: • PPE and working safely around asphalt and maintenance equipment • Work-zone safety across parking lots, side roads, streets, highways, and freeways • Internal Traffic Control Plans and legal certification requirements (flaggers, TCPs, stamped plans) • Daily kickoff meetings (e.g., “Toolbox Talks,” “Tailgate Talks,” “Pre-Task Briefings”) that include “what-if” planning • Mental preparedness, fatigue awareness, and stop-work authority • Emergency response, documentation, notification protocols, and risk management Pre-Season: Get Your Head in the Game is designed to ensure everyone — from owners to subs to field crews — starts each season on the same page, looking out for one another, and committed to getting everyone home safely every day. As part of the Pre-season: Get Your Head in the Game classes, UAPA handed out a curriculum booklet to support safety training throughout the year. If you would like a copy of this booklet, please call the UAPA office at (801) 708-0486. We are happy to make sure you receive a copy! UAPA PRE-SEASON STATEWIDE ALIGNMENT FOR SAFETY • QUALITY • PROFESSIONALISM UTAH ASPHALT PAVEMENT ASSOCIATION 34 Utah Asphalt Pavement Association Safety
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