Roadside workers are telling stories about the dangers they face working in the “cone zone,” stories now featured on the ConeZoneBC and B.C.’s Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure websites and that are part of the Work Zone Safety Alliance’s latest “Cone Zone” campaign.
The campaign also includes print, online, radio and transit advertising, all developed internally.
“We have a budget in terms of paid advertising, but we’re really able to extend our reach through our stakeholders,” said Anita Deiter, project strategy and marketing manager for the Cone Zone campaign. “They can put their logo on the campaign materials and advertise in their own communities.”
Work Zone Safety Alliance is a group of 25 organizations dedicated to ensuring the safety of roadside workers in B.C., including WorkSafeBC and the Ministry. The group says that between 2004 and 2013, 15 workers died and another 224 were injured and missed time from work because of roadside vehicle incidents.
“Every day in B.C., there are tens of thousands of roadside workers who work in high-risk environments,” said Deiter.
The objective of the campaign, now in its fourth year, is “to increase awareness of the vulnerability of roadside workers outside and to educate and encourage drivers to adopt safe driving practices around them,” said Deiter.
Last year, the Cone Zone campaign won the 2013 Canadian Public Relations Society’s (CPRS) National Award of Excellence in the Canadian Advocacy and Social Marketing category.
Deiter said using workers’ real stories is new to the campaign this year. The idea is to show that there are many different types of roadside workers, including landscapers and emergency workers — not just construction workers.
“Every year, we do a post-campaign research study,” she said. “One of the consistent issues that we need to focus on is that the general public is not aware of the different types of roadside workers. Telling their stories and the different issues that they face in their industries helps us to profile that.”
