Donate blood, receive FREE ticket to World's of Fun

The American Red Cross will host a blood drive from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Wednesday, May 4 at the District Office, 600 NE Colbern Road. 

Donors will receive FREE tickets to World's of Fun. This blood drive is open to friends and family of MoDOT employees as well. 

Click here to schedule an appointment. 

Training emphasizes the importance of reading TAs

 You don’t have to have TAs memorized, but you must know where to find and how to read them.

 

This was one of the messages maintenance employees heard during the Advanced Work Zone Training recently given by Senior Maintenance Operations Specialist Travis Jones.

 

“If you know how to read the TA, you can set up a work zone,” Jones said.

 

And setting up a work zone properly can make the difference between a near miss and a fatality. 

 

“If you have a question on what is supposed to be done ask,” Jones said. “Don’t make it up.”

 

During the advanced training, participants are given different work zone scenarios and discuss what TA they would use and why.

 

Employees who serve in work zones are required to take advanced training every four years. Some take it more often.

 

“It’s been very good,” said Intermediate Maintenance Worker Kerry Rawlins.

 

During the training, Rawlins and Maintenance Crew Leader Steve Vogt drew the TA they would use for the example on a giant sheet of white paper.

 

This was an exercise where there could be more than one right answer.

 

Groups of two to three participants came to the white sheet to draw and discuss their chosen TA.

 

Jones said the exercise helps employees practice conversations they should have in the mornings before they head out to work zones. For any given work zone there are multiple options for TAs, he said. The important thing is employees are reading and setting them up accurately.

 

“Read them daily,” Jones said. “Going by memory doesn’t work.”

Director’s Employee Trash Challenge

• Non-maintenance employees are encouraged to work with their teams to perform litter pickup on any section of state right-of-way during the Trash Bash month.

• Employees will need to obtain approval from their supervisor.

• Employees can do litter pickup for up to four hours each week during the April Trash Bash month.

• Once approval is granted, the employee will need to contact the appropriate district Adopt-A-Highway coordinator.

o The e-mail group contact information for the various Adopt-A-Highway coordinators for each district/division are as follows:

 Central Office: AAH

 NW District: AAH-NW

 NE District: AAH-NE

 KC District: AAH-KC

 Central District: AAH-CD

 St. Louis District: AAH-SL

 Southwest District: AAH-SW

 Southeast District: AAH-SE

• The appropriate Adopt-A-Highway coordinator will provide staff with the maintenance building supervisor who will provide the employee with the location of the maintenance building where trash bags and PPE can be picked up.

• Personal Protective Equipment: The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices requires that any worker, paid or voluntary, should wear class 2 or 3 high visibility safety apparel when performing work on right-of-way and are exposed to traffic. The appropriate maintenance building supervisor will provide staff with high visibility vests. Many employees should already have their own hi-vis vests.

• Staff will be required to provide their own durable footwear (no open toe shoes) and gloves.

• Staff will be required to wear long pants during litter pickup.

• Staff should also wear protective safety glasses and hard hats when representing MoDOT. (If volunteering on their own time such as picking up with a community organization who has an AAH section, volunteers are not required to wear safety glasses and hard hats, though it is strongly recommended.

• Staff members are encouraged to exercise the following Safety Precautions:

o Park at the litter pick-up locations in a safe location at least 30 feet off the outside edge of the travelled lane.

o Be safe and aware around traffic, potentially rough terrain and sharp or dangerous litter.

o Employees are encouraged to use sunscreen and bug repellent spray.

o Avoid touching the face, including eyes, nose and mouth.

o Leave any hazardous or medical waste litter alone.

o Leave the filled litter bags at safe and accessible locations on the state right-of-way and notify the appropriate maintenance building supervisor that a bag pick-up is needed upon completion of litter pickup.

o As soon as practical after completing the litter pick-up, wash hands for 20 seconds using

soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub.

o View the safety video developed for MoDOT’s Adopt-A-Highway Program found here, as

well as the Adopt-A-Highway complete Guide to Safety found here.

• Activity Code: Employees should code time to Activity R411 Litter Pick-up.

• Maintenance employees will enhance litter management efforts including sweeping and large

debris pick-up.