Worker Presence Subgroup kick-off meeting

February 3, 2022

Meeting Information

Purpose

• Formally re-launch the Worker Presence Subgroup and introduce co-chairs
• Review previous subgroup accomplishments, including changes to the WZDx Specification in version 4.0
• Discuss subgroup’s planned activities for this cycle
• Clarify member roles and opportunities for involvement

Agenda

• Sign-in and Welcome
• Introduce Co-Chairs
• Subgroup Purpose & Past Activities
• Planned Activities for This Cycle
• Next Steps and Action Items

Minutes

Co-chair Introductions

• Benjamin Acimovic - Traffic Operations & Technology Manager, Colorado DOT
• Serge Beaudry - VP Products, Ver-Mac
• Luke Urie - Program Manager, Austin Transportation Department
• Kristin Virshbo - President and CEO, Castle Rock Associates

Subgroup Purpose & Past Activities

See February 2022 version of the subgroup charter

Purpose

The Worker Presence Subgroup paves the way to help agencies that create WZDx feeds publish worker presence information. Currently worker presence is optional but the subgroup exists to help them capture and make use of that data

Why do we care about worker presence in WZDx feeds?

• Improve worker safety - fatalities and injuries continue to be a major problem
• Alert drivers to reduce their speed or signal an ADS to transfer control to a human driver

Survey

In 2020, the subgroup conducted a survey of four stakeholder groups to gather information about current worker presence info practices and priorities. The survey received 537 total responses from:

• Infrastructure owner operators
• Work zone equipment providers
• Work zone workers
• WZDx data consumers

Survey Findings:

• We heard concerns about reporting accuracy and worker presence definition
• Concerns/sensitivities around the definition of worker presence and its impact on traffic citations
• We found there was strong interest in worker presence data even if the data was less than perfect
• Equipment vendors are investing in solutions to help capture worker presence data
• Majority of workers are already reporting their presence in some ways

Specification Update

In v3.1 and earlier, WZDx only had a single boolean field for worker presence.

In v4.0 (published in December), there are now more options for specifying worker presence in the specification:

• Still have the true/false concept in the are_workers_present element
• Added nuances
  • definition for each jurisdiction/data producer, they can specify what worker presence may mean. Each jurisdiction may pick different definitions (and multiple!)
  • method: how data is being collected
  • confidence: Allows an agency to couch their own confidence in the data being reported
  • worker_presence_last_confirmed_date: option for whether they have been confirmed recently

Planed Activities for This Cycle

Stakeholder engagement

• The WP co-chairs want to get working group members engaged on the products and impacts of prior work by conducting interviews with data consumers and producers:
  • What problems are they seeing?
  • Are the changes that were made going to help with worker presence data?
  • What WZDx deployers are planning to include worker presence info?
  • How can we leverage the SwzDeviceFeed for worker presence?

Awareness and Education

• Develop a one-pager to educate members of the WZDWG about worker presence information, including its importance for improving worker safety, the value of including it info in WZDx feeds, and barriers to broader availability of it
• Investigate outcomes and issues that arose as part of stakeholder engagement conducted through FHWA’s Put Work Zones on the Map campaign.

WZDx Specification

• Reviewing and evaluating how the WZDx revisions do or don't meet our needs Work with the Spec. Update and SWZ Subgroups to implement new changes

[See February 2022 version of the subgroup charter for a timeline and more details on proposed activities]

Discussion

How are people getting information about worker presence from the field?

• Melissa Clark (CalTrans): RFID wearables such as SafeZone360 and Spot-r
• Local vendor in Colorado wants to use cellphones
• Check-in/check-out wearables:
  • Pete Krikelis: Something that a worker gets assigned when they arrive at a work site, can be attached to their helmet, and then can make sure they're safe. I'm involved n SWZ devices. Not currently populating any feeds, but could be packaged for SWZ equipment

Specification

• Chris Brookes (Michigan DOT): Spec is missing where the workers are located. Work zones may be miles long and only have workers in the first mile or two, and that can change during the day. Down the road that's an important factor - how much warning they get, different warnings, etc,
  • Also, how close they are to the work - behind a barrier wall? Still want to say workers are there, but should the message change based on their exposure
• Serge: There is a capability to specify that workers are only on a shorter segment, but getting that information is still difficult.
• Chris: You would need to programmatic way of doing that. If you put in a work zone that's 10 miles long, maybe we want a way to break it up without sensors every mile.
• Kristin: My company does roadmapping, and what Chris shared is great for roadmapping what happens down the road. Almost no one is doing the basic boolean right now, so we're hoping for babysteps but the vision described is where we need to go down the line

Is there a way to say we don't know whether workers are present?

• Kristin: if it's unknown, you don't fill in the worker presence element.

Exposure

• Ben: There are differences in exposure if in a vehicle or on the shoulder. Need to figure out how to differentiate that down the road.
• Ross: One thing we could discuss is AVL data - if hazards are on, that implies something is hazard. Compare to parking a pickup and then going to do work. Does that count?
  • Jeremy A: That lights on indication would be a good proxy - on the roadway vs. not on the roadway?
  • Serge: That source can be handed via maintenance-vehicle-present in the method property
  • Ross: This might be more like a ConOps. Industry is good at using arrowboards when closing lanes, so making that a connected device is a good first step. They're also good at turning on hazards when they enter a work zone, so if we train that means that you're there and in danger, we can interpret that as workers being present. Leave hazards on when you're at/near the truck and in danger. Not just a data thing, but something we can move forward
  • Jeremy: It's most important to flag workers who are on the roadway or a little bit off, but it's not super important to not just how in danger someone is

Could the worker presence info be used to monitor that approved/authorized people are in work zones?

• Ben: CDOT is looking to track hours, and intially wanted to do so along with worker presence. We're looking at it along with payroll. Not sure how it's going to work but we're looking at it
• Ross: We believe in tracking equipment, not people. Baton tracks the stop paddle - not tracking people, just the activity, to respect personal privacy. From a philosophical perspective.
• Ben: But there is a line. We know where all our snowplows are, and some supervisors want to know who is out there but there are definitely privacy concerns. Some enforcement and tracking is necessary to keep people safe
• Kristin: Also important to be aware of what each DOT needs from the national standard of where workers are. Data consumers have no interest in the name of who is in the work zone
• Neil: I'm trying to get to a trigger where we have someone actively doing work. People tune out signs unless they see active work going on. If we have a trigger that people are out there and at risk, and that information gets in to vehicle, hopefully that gives people awareness
• Maaza: signs before and after any activity on the work zone. Credibility is important.

Action Items and Next Steps

1. Data users: Reach out to the co-chairs if you’d like to be interviewed about your interest in worker presence information.
2. Data producers: Reach out to any of the co-chairs if you are planning to include worker presence in a WZDx feed soon or in the near future.

Participants

Name	Organization
Randy Jackson	Applied Concepts
Marty Lauber	Arizona DOT
Luke Urie*	Austin Transportation Department
Mahsa Ettefagh	Booz Allen Hamilton
Melissa Clark	California Department of Transportation
Kristin Virshbo*	Castle Rock Associates
Ben Acimovic*	Colorado DOT
David Craig^	General Motors
John Ehlen	Gistic Research
Eric Kolb	Google
Jeremy Agulnek	HAAS Alert
Maaza Mekuria	Hawaii DOT
Weimin Huang	HERE
Pete Krikelis	Hill and Smith
Todd Hartnett	Hill and Smith
William Twaite	Hillsborough County
Casey Inoue	Houston Radar
Michelle Boucher	IBI Group
Jacob Brady	IBI Group
Ross Sheckler	iCone
Mitchell Wood	Iowa DOT
Sinclair Stolle	Iowa DOT
Andrew Williams	Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Brandon Saylor	Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Ryan Papariello	Laborers Health and Safety Fund of North America
Walter Jones	Laborers' Health and Safety Fund of North America
Alexander Lemka	Maricopa County DOT
Carrie McInerney	Massachusetts DOT
Neil Boudreau	Massachusetts DOT
Nisar Ahmed	Metropolitan Transportation Commission
Chris Brookes	Michigan DOT
Ted Ulven	Minnesota DOT
Cathy Huebsch	Minnesota DOT
Michelle Moser	Minnesota DOT
Cory Johnson	Minnesota DOT
Dan Smith	Missouri DOT
Christopher Poe	Mixon Hill
David Fosbroke	National Institute of Occupational Safety & Health
Stan Young	National Renewable Energy Lab
Ethan Alexander	Navjoy
Tony English	Neaera
Tim Fiato	New York State DOT
Bruno Fernandez	Nexar
Justin Anderson	Noblis
Kellen Shain	Noblis
Michael Schnuerle	Open Mobility Foundation
Chad Mann	Oregon DOT
Blain Van Dyke	Oregon DOT
Chris Parker	Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission
Muyi Zhou	San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency
John Copple	Sanborn
John Hayes	SolarTech
Sabrina Mosher	Southwest Research Institute
Robert Hoyler	TomTom
Martha Kapitanov	USDOT Federal Highway Administration
Todd Peterson	USDOT Federal Highway Administration
Murat Omay	USDOT ITS Joint Program Office
Mark Mockett	USDOT Volpe Center
Hadrian Merced	USDOT Volpe Center
Nate Deshmukh-Towery^	USDOT Volpe Center
Molly Behan	USDOT Volpe Center
Peter Jager	Utah DOT
Serge Beaudry*	Ver-Mac
Todd Foster	Ver-Mac
Benoit Robitaille	Ver-Mac
David Rush	Virginia DOT
Steve Haapala	Washington State DOT
Justin Belk	Washington State DOT
Tony Leingang	Washington State DOT
Erin Schwark	Wisconsin DOT
Qassim Abdullah	Woolpert
David Blackstone	Woolpert
Michael Hanowsky	Woolpert
Don Shupp	WP Signal

* Co-Chair of Worker Presence Subgroup ^ Co-Chair of Work Zone Data Working Group