Ep. 646 Reducing Risk Near Traffic for Landscaping and Tree Care Crews
Rancho Mesa’s Alyssa Burley sits down with Risk Control Consultant Jessee Keirstead to talk about how landscaping and tree care crews can reduce their risk during roadside work.
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Host: Brenda Colby
Guest: Jessee Keirstead
Editor: Megan Lockhart
Music: "Home" by JHS Pedals, “Breaking News Intro” by nem0production
© Copyright 2026. Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc. All rights reserved.
Transcript
Brenda Colby: You are listening to Rancho Mesa's StudioOne podcast, where each week we break down complex insurance and safety topics to help your business thrive.
I'm your host, Brenda Colby, and I'm joined by Jessee Keirstead, risk control consultant with Rancho Mesa. And today, we're going to talk about how landscaping and tree care crews can reduce their risk during roadside work.
So Jessee, welcome to the show.
Jessee Kierstead: Hey, Brenda, how are you?
BC: I'm good. All right. Now, roadside and median work can be some of the most dangerous jobs in the landscaping and tree care industry. So, what are the biggest risks crews face when working near moving traffic and why is proper traffic control so critical?
JK: You know, landscaping contractors are working in a lot of areas where cars are flying by, flying up the road. We've seen a lot of incidents where people are moving way too fast and either not paying attention or on their phone. And we're out there. Everybody sees it every day, right? People driving, looking down, looking at their phone, looking away, doing their makeup, reading something, fixing their hair in the mirror. And it's pretty common. And we're out there working alongside people distracted. And a lot of the areas that we're working are higher speed and not just slow speed roads, but we also face situations where we're having to work really close to those areas where cars are going pretty quickly. We also have things like aggressive driving and debris or trash in the road or reduced visibility, poor weather, fog, all those sorts of factors play into the dangers that are associated with working on the road. And we want to make sure that we have really strong traffic controls in place. We want to make sure that we're warning drivers in advance as much as possible. We want to provide them time to slow down and react to workers that are in those areas. We want to provide guidance to make sure that traffic is moving as smoothly as possible through the areas that we are working and where there may be heightened risk. We want to separate workers from traffic as much as we can as well, right? We want to keep them further away from the vehicles as far away as we can. We want to reduce confusion in those areas. Sometimes workers are in areas where there might be some particularly challenging things like coming up over a hill or around a corner or there's an intersection or there's a median that's in a very unique area. I know there's a spot right near where I live where one of our contractors is working on a regular basis. where there's probably three roads that converge right near each other, and they're in the medians crossing over there all the time. And people are already confused on how to get through there on a regular basis in pretty high speeds. So without advance warning or some sort of warning that workers were there, we want to make sure that we're providing those people who are already rushing to get where they are, that there's people around to hopefully try to protect everyone involved out on the site.
BC: Yeah, great. That's all really important information for sure. Okay. So, in a recent article you wrote, you emphasize pre-planning and hazard assessments before every roadside job. So, what should supervisors be evaluating before work begins and what equipment or PPE is absolutely essential to have on site?
JK: So I think as contractors, we've gotten used to kind of doing pre-job hazard assessments for whatever job site we're working on. And we want to treat roadsides no differently. We want to make sure that even if we're familiar with that site, that we're doing an evaluation of that site for that day. Whether it's weather related or there's some sort of condition happening around that site, maybe even just time of day. For example, sometimes you might go to work there on that site. But the next time you show up, there's a school opening. Right. So there's a lot more traffic than there usually is. Or maybe there's fog that day or there's, you know, doesn't happen very often in San Diego, but there is rain. Right. Like rain causes everybody to drive crazy here and people kind of freak out about it. So those are things we want to keep in mind. You know, we want to make sure that we're evaluating the site for that day. But some things to keep in mind, the biggest thing that you want to start with is the road speed. So the speed limit of that road, right? So the higher rate of speed, the more danger associated with that job site, right? There's more impact of somebody getting struck by a vehicle at a higher rate of speed than lower. So we want to treat every site a little differently in terms of how we set up the roadside safety for that site is kind of dictated by the speed limit. So that's the first thing we kind of want to start with. Traffic volume is another big thing that we want to evaluate. So the more cars going through there, the more dangerous potentially it's going to be. So a more busy road, there's a lot more to take in than maybe a rural road that's, you know, there's not really much going on there. You're going to have a lot less notice when there's more vehicles at a higher rate of speed. So we want to make sure that we're kind of starting there. Site distance - so things that are pretty common are hills, coming up and over the crest of a hill, right? So if we're setting up a job where it's unavoidable, we have to work on the other side of that hill. We want to make sure we're giving more advance notice. You know, we're putting signage, we're putting cones on the other side to letting people know, hey, when you come over that hill, that median or that roadside that we're on is going to be potentially, hopefully be protected and there are workers near there. So around a curve is another thing, right? So especially on a high rate of speed, if it's a high speed limit road and there's a curve involved in it and you're working on the other side of that curve, we want to make sure that we're giving even more advanced notice there. Proximity of workers to traffic, right? So how close you're working to the actual roadside is another thing. Sometimes it's unavoidable. We have to work right up to the curb of the roadside on a median, or we have to work right up to the curb and there's really not much of a shoulder on that road that we're working on. If that's the case, we want to, again, make sure we're taking even more advanced notice. Another key thing is kind of training when it comes to that too is really point of emphasis is ensuring that employees know that we want to try to face traffic as much as possible. So what I mean by that is not having your back towards the direction where cars are coming. Another thing I see pretty frequently that we like to avoid is people stepping into the road. So once we step into the road, there's a couple things. One, you know, that's a whole extra layer of protection that we would need to have beyond what we're doing here and what we're doing on a typical basis with landscapers and tree workers. But it also multiplies the factor of somebody potentially being hit, right? We want to evaluate potential escape routes so if we're working in an area where you know we're setting up our zone where there's signage then there's cones and there's buffer zone then maybe a vehicle in there the next step we want to make sure that we have an escape route so if somebody does kind of enter that zone and we see it happening there's an area for hopefully us to kind of try to get out of the way as quickly as possible. Even a fraction of a foot might make a difference, right? So just in general, like so much like an emergency in a building, we want to know where to evacuate. We want to know where to go if something happens. Same thing with a job site and road. We want to know if someone comes flying down the road, enters in, you know, which direction should we be going or which way is potentially going to be lifesaving in that instance. And then again, things like weather, environmental, right? There may be things that are out of our control that we want to try to factor in. Maybe that day we don't go to that job site. We walk away, right? It's too foggy. It's too rainy, you know, or it's, you know, the sight lines really aren't that great. Or maybe it's, you know. we come back later or we need to set up more advanced warning to let people know that where we're working. But the essential equipment, you know, the basics are like signs, landscaper, tree work ahead, those sorts of things, right? Our median work, our shoulder work ahead, those sorts of things. Again, cones are dictated, the distance that cones are set out and the distance between the cones are dictated by the speed limit of the road. So the higher the speed limit, the longer our cone zone is and the more advanced our signage is too, right? So higher rate of speed, more advanced notice. Communication devices, so whether it's, you know, voice, but sometimes we want to keep in mind, maybe we're pretty spread out and we want to have some sort of radio or something like that, that we can radio ahead to people like, hey, we need to move the zone or hey, we need to be aware of what's coming our way. And then high-vis clothing, so high-vis vests, typically we want to see like class two or three, which is kind of a little bit more reflective, a little bit more, you know, easier to see.
BC: Right. Yeah. You know, it's kind of funny yesterday. I was driving down the road and I saw a bunch of cones that were laid out kind of along the median. And I mean, obviously with our experience in safety, we kind of know that that indicates that there's probably somebody working on the median. Usually it's some type of landscaping crew. But ironically, the guy was standing in the middle of the lane and I'm glad that I saw him, but I had kind of come up on a little bit of a hill and I saw the guy standing there and I kind of just slowly got over into the lane next to me and avoided him. But you know, I don't know which company that was but um they definitely should be not in the middle of the street like that all right. So all of those are really great, important aspects to consider.
So you mentioned some of the equipment needed, and you also outlined five core elements of a safe roadside work zone in your recent article as well, which were signs, cones, buffer zones, vehicle positioning, and escape routes. So can you explain how these elements work together to protect workers and which one is the most often overlooked?
JK: Yeah. Okay. So signs basically provide an early warning to approaching drivers. I think that there are some clients that do it better than others. I think that there are definitely some clients out there that can use some help when it comes to signs. I think that there's just so much out there. I think a lot of times what happens is they get thrown into the truck. The guys pop out to do something quickly and they don't take the time to put out the signs. I typically always see cones, but like there are some times where we'll pull up and we don't see signage, which it's the first thing that you see as a driver, right? Like as you're coming up to a site is signage ahead that there's workers on the shoulder, the median, whatever it is. So I think that unfortunately, that definitely is something that does kind of get overlooked here or there. However, I think most people do it pretty well. I think the one thing that we want to consider there is again, going back to the speed of the road. So not every work zone is set up equally.
So the higher speed, we want to make sure that we're really taking the time to get out there and put that signage up way further in advance than we normally are. So we put together some quick guides and there's also a lot of information out there that kind of goes over by each speed limit as to like how you set up the cones and signs. But in general, I think that's kind of one thing that does kind of get overlooked a lot. And whether it's because the signs are just not on the truck or they're heavy or they don't feel like moving them along with the roadside. Nowadays, there's lightweight signage that's super easy that you can fold up and throw in the back of the truck. Don't even need to put it on the bed. You can fit it right in the cab. Like it's super lightweight, very easy to set up and very easy to make sure that you're moving along with you too. And that's another thing that kind of gets overlooked is that if we're moving up the road, especially on the median, that we're moving that equipment with us. And that equipment is put in advance of the approaching driver, if that makes sense, right? So not necessarily you're blocking off the entire median and you're putting signage. If you move beyond that zone, you want to make sure that your zone's moving with you, right? So I think that signage is huge. That does get overlooked here, there. But cones, you know, hopefully try to create separation as well as awareness between you and the oncoming traffic. Again, we want to make sure that those cone setups, especially when it comes to the median, are set up in advance of where the cars are coming from, right? That direction of traffic. So the work vehicle, you know, sometimes you can't really have it in the shoulder where you're working or sometimes you can't have it in the median, but that provides an extra layer of protection, right? So beyond where the cones start, you know, if you have something physical, that one is hopefully going to provide a little bit more of something, again, that drivers will notice. But two, it is something that could potentially stop or prevent or slow down our vehicle from running into where the workers are. Again, bonus points if you can add on like flashers or flashing lights or anything that kind of, again, raises awareness that there are workers in that area. Some contractors do that better than others, and some vehicles aren't equipped with that. But if we do have, even the hazards could help raise awareness that there are workers at. And then a buffer zone, which provides kind of a clear recovery area, right? So just an extra area between hopefully the vehicle and the work zone that's just providing extra space that could either kind of lead towards an escape route or hopefully by the time a driver gets through there, if they're coming through your work zone, they might finally realize that, you know, hey, there's people ahead. And then escape route is another piece that we talked about a little bit already, but it serves as like kind of last line of defense, you know? So hopefully by the time. a driver gets through the signage, the cones, the vehicle and that buffer zone, you know, there's some time hopefully for you to react as your crew and find a way to kind of get away from someone who might kind of drift into that zone, whether it's they're not paying attention or they were trying to pass another vehicle or they, you know, lost control of their vehicle or there was an accident from someone trying to merge to avoid your traffic zone. Now there's an accident. Hopefully by the time all that space is consumed, an escape route will hopefully be you know, accessible.
BC: Yeah, great. So for landscaping and tree care companies looking to improve safety immediately, what are the most important best practices they should implement to better protect employees during roadside and median operations?
JK: So I think the biggest thing is training, right? We want to make sure people are aware of the hazards associated with where we're placing them to work. One thing that you mentioned, I think is really huge employees entering the road, right? I see it all the time. I see, you know, a guy with a backpack blower, you know, going out and cleaning the curbside. I get it. Like it's work that has to be done and you're trying to make, you know, the median that you're working on look real nice. But the moment that we do that, we're multiplying, you know, the factors of potentially having a severe, severe injury, right? It's going to be hard to walk away from a truck hitting you, you know, and that's something we definitely want to avoid. The other piece of it is it kind of touched on it briefly before is always facing traffic. And that's difficult in a median, right? Because sometimes you have to be aware of where both sides are. The biggest thing that we want to try to avoid is not seeing what's coming at you, right? So the more that we can, the most possible that we can is facing the direction of traffic. And a median, again, sometimes that's both ways, right? But if we're seeing heavy traffic coming from one way, it's a little bit more than
that side or more towards that side of the road. Let's try to make sure that we're facing that direction of traffic as much as possible when we're working. And that's amplified as the closer we get to the actual roadway both of the you know facing that direction of traffic is amplified. So you know the last thing we want is to maybe slip off the curb and have our back to where we're facing, right? So we want to know what's coming towards us. We want to make sure that we're able to react if we possibly can. But the median is a huge thing. It takes special consideration because traffic is approaching from both directions, right? We want to make sure that we're having signage facing both directions. So when you get out of the truck, if we're doing median work, we want to make sure we have signs for both sides, right? Again. And cars are approaching from both sides, so we want to make sure we're protecting both sides. Same with cones. And we want to make sure that our access zones are in safe areas. So if we're not able to park on the median and we're having to park on the shoulder across the street, we want to make sure we're crossing in a safe area. Don't cross on the other side of the hill or like around a curve. We want to make sure that traffic can see us coming. And we want to make sure that as we progress through work on the median, that our buffer zones also move with us. So if we're moving past where... cones and signage is towards the direction of where traffic is coming, if that makes sense, right? we wanna make sure that we're also moving our traffic control with that too. And it may be a pain to stop work and go out there and move the cones and move the signs. But if we're working beyond where that median protection is, then it's really not gonna come into play and it's kind of useless. And I see that pretty frequently. I don't see it all the time, but I do see it happening. And that's just a product of,
hey, we're busy, we're working. And we're not really focused on the cones and signs. We already did that, but we're working beyond where. that is. So we want to avoid that as much as possible. I mean, those are just huge factors in limiting the potential of someone entering that median and having those cones and signs in the right place. So please, if you take the time, you know, take the time to go back and move that equipment if you are working beyond that zone. And then again, just can't emphasize enough, like we talked about those two big things that you brought up, Brenda, is like Someone entering the roadway, we want to avoid that as much as possible, especially on meeting work and then having your back to work as much as possible too. So we want to make sure that we're facing the direction of traffic as much as we can.
BC: Yeah, great. All right. Well, that was all really valuable information for our clients to consider. So hopefully our listeners learned some important tips on creating a safer environment within their organization to help them reduce potential risks in these types of working conditions.
Well, Jessee, thanks for joining me in StudioOne.
JK: Thanks for having me.
BC: Thank you for tuning in to our latest episode produced by StudioOne. If you enjoyed what you heard, please share this episode and subscribe. For more insights like this, visit us at RanchoMesa.com or subscribe to our weekly newsletter.