Flagging Traffic

A flagger is a person standing in a live traffic lane, protected by nothing but being seen. 1926.201(a) requires flagging, and the warning garments flaggers wear, to conform to Part 6 of the MUTCD — which is why the paddle, the signs and the cone taper are not a matter of preference.

Before you step out

• Be trained. Flagging is not a job you hand to whoever is spare.
• High-visibility garment, and at night it must be retroreflective and lit. A vest that is grey with dust reflects nothing.
• Paddle, not a flag, as the primary device — a STOP/SLOW paddle on a staff, held still and high, not waved.
• The signs and the taper go up first. Drivers need warning before they need instruction. A flagger with no advance signs is an ambush.

Where you stand

• Alone, and only you. Nobody talks to the flagger. Two people at the station means drivers cannot tell who is signalling.
• Never in the lane you are letting move, and never with your back to traffic.
• Far enough ahead of the crew that a driver who ignores you still has room to stop before reaching them.
• Pick your escape route before the first vehicle arrives and keep it clear. A ditch, a verge, behind a barrier — somewhere to go that is not into the work zone. Know it without looking.

While you work

• Watch the vehicles, not the work. Your job is entirely upstream.
• Face traffic. Stay visible. Stay still. Sudden movement reads as ambiguity.
• No phone, no headphones, no sitting, no leaning on anything.
• Have a plan for the driver who is not stopping — sound, movement, get clear, and warn the crew. Some of them will not stop.
• Never turn your back to set something down.

The crew's part

Everyone in the zone wears high-vis, stays inside the cones, and never assumes a lane is closed just because it should be. And when the flagger says move, everyone moves — that is the whole point of having one.