In February 1997, the then Ministry of Transportation and Highways surveyed British Columbia companies specializing in road construction, requesting their input on the issue of worker safety and traffic control measures at construction sites. The overwhelming response was that:

• Excessive speeds;
• Disobeying of safety signs and traffic control persons; or
• Inadequate traffic control

posed significant safety risks to road workers and the travelling public.

It was determined that:

• Provincial standards for training Traffic Control Persons (TCPs) and instructors in British Columbia,
• a training endorsement and re-endorsement process and
• a coordinated approach by government and private sector stakeholders

was needed before the province would see significant improvements in traffic control.

To address these concerns the Minister of Transportation and Highways directed staff to find candidates from industry, labour, training institutions and government to form a Training and Standards Review Committee. This committee rendered a recommendation paper in May, 1998, specifying in particular that new training standards would be a significant step forward toward removing the element of chance that traffic control persons were unable or insufficiently trained to direct traffic in a safe and efficient manner.

In 2000, the first working draft of the training manuals was released. Through several revisions and sponsored by the Ministry of Transportation, the resulting training manuals for both instructors and participants represent the expected minimum standard of training for Traffic Control Persons (TCPs) in British Columbia. This standard is recognized by the Ministry of Transportation, the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia and Traffic Control Agencies and Stakeholders as represented through the Training and Standards Review Committee.

The final documents were completed in 2002 and are posted here with other resource materials and are also available in hardcopy from the Open Learning Agency in Vancouver.

British Columbia TCP Training Endorsement processes are now being finalized under the guidance of the Workers’ Compensation Board of British Columbia and are intended to be administered through a British Columbia safety organization representing British Columbia stakeholders.