Vision Zero
Vision Zero and Towards Zero Deaths are multi-national campaigns to improve road safety and eliminate fatalities. Critical infrastructure devices like steel beam guide rail, end terminals, and crash cushions are life saving devices that are installed, maintained, and inspected to reduce the severity of a roadway departure.
The Vision Zero initiative and roadside safety devices conceptually are synonymous with one another. Both strive to improve road user safety, decrease the frequency of roadway departures, and lessen the severity of impacts.
Our training programs will add a tangible element to the Vision Zero initiative through best practices in Design, Inspection, and Installation/Maintenance. With advancements in crash worthy guidelines there has never been a better and more crucial time to raise the bar with respect to critical safety infrastructure training.
Webinars
Through the course of 2020 the world made some significant changes in response to a global pandemic. Many industries had to adjust to this new way of doing business, including the construction & transportation industries. Boardroom meetings, conferences, and conventions were no longer available to industry and adjustments were made. The virtual platform took a front seat to facilitate meetings, create new opportunities, and showcase capabilities. Innovations Academy has adapted to the changing climate in which training programs are delivered and has created several introductory webinars that provide key insight to the roadside safety industry to raise awareness and heighten stakeholder interest.
Safer Roads Strategy
This webinar topic explores the changing landscape of roadside safety hardware crash testing, specifications, and deficiencies. The subject matter will consist of MASH Crash Testing Guidelines, Implementation of New Roadside Safety Hardware, and Common Deficiencies and Modifications of Legacy Devices found on the Ontario Road Network.
Duration: 1.5 Hours – Virtual Platform
Critical Safety Infrastructure Identification
This webinar topic explores the varying roadside safety devices that have been installed in the Municipal and Provincial road network. The categories include steel beam guide rail, cable guide rail, temporary construction barrier, crash cushions, end terminals, and small/intermediate sign supports. The webinar will provide images and video relating to the devices to better understand the critical infrastructure found within Ontario.
Duration: 1 Hour – Virtual Platform
ROAD SAFETY HARDWARE
Products / Services Included
Innovation Academy training programs will focus on critical safety infrastructure devices and our method of delivery will be via Virtual Platform or In-Class Sessions. MASH guidelines provide critical crash worthy testing updates with consideration towards our changing vehicle fleet and in-service performance of exiting devices. Crash worthy product has been implemented in Ontario under the following categories: steel beam guide rail, steel beam energy attenuating terminals, steel beam terminals, crash cushions, temporary construction barrier, small sign supports, intermediate sign supports, and high-tension cable guide rail/terminals. The roadside safety industry is evolving rapidly and our goal at Innovations Academy is to ensure roadside safety professionals at all levels have access to educational programs that keep them up to date regarding these innovative and crucial changes.
Steel Beam Energy Attenuating Terminals
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SoftStop
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Mash Sequential Kinking Terminal (MSKT)
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Max Tension
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Max Tension Median
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ET Plus
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Sequential Kinking Terminal (SKT)
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CCAT 350
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Mash Flared Energy Attenuating Terminal (MFLEAT)
Steel Beam Guide Rail
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Type M20 Guide Rail
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Type M30 Guide Rail
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OPSD 912.130 Steel Post Guide Rail
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OPSD 912.140 Wood Post Guide Rail
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Ezy Guard 4 Block-less Guide Rail
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Ezy Guard TL-4 High Containment
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Guardian 5 (TL-5) System
Steel Beam Terminals
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Slotted Rail Terminal (MGS / M10)
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Eccentric Loader
Crash Cushions
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Quad Guard (M10)
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TAU II (M)
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SMART Cushion
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TRACC
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ACZ 350
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ABSORB 350 (M)
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SLED
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BEAT
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QuadTrend
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CIAS
Temporary Construction Barrier
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Type T
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Type M
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Type I
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Type X
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Type Z
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Steel Barrier
Small/Intermediate Sign Supports
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RibBak U-Flange
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SQR LOC Perforated Post
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Wooden Breakaway Posts
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Non-Breakaway U-Flange
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SlipSafe Supreme Intermediate Sign Support
High Tension Cable Guide Rail
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Safence High Tension Cable Guide Rail
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CASS S3 High Tension Cable Guide Rail
High Tension Cable Guide Rail Terminal
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Safence High Tension Cable Guide Rail Terminal
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HARP High Tension Cable Guide Rail Terminal
Training Considerations
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Design
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Function
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Crash Testing
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Installation
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Tolerances
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Site Conditions
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System Components
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Maintenance
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Inspection Techniques
Director
Jesse Hopkins
Mr. Hopkins has nearly 16 years of roadside safety product experience and has gained extensive industry knowledge with respect to the products specified, installed, and maintained on Canadian roadways. He has conducted roadside safety training sessions, seminars, and symposiums across the country to a variety of audiences including contractors, engineers, designers, politicians, and policy makers. His topics of expertise include roadside safety hardware, proper installation and maintenance techniques, product inspection, ramifications of aging hardware, and crash worthiness.
Mr. Hopkins, along with Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) developed a roadside safety educational program in 2017 that was delivered to the Accident Reconstruction Team for the Ontario Provincial Police. Mr. Hopkins was one of the founding members, and Co-Chair, of the Ontario Guide Rail Safety Coalition (OGRSC) from 2015-2018. He helped to form the Ontario Roadside Safety Infrastructure Coalition (ORSIC) and is currently active as one of their Co-Chairs. Through the Ontario Road Builders Association (ORGA) Mr. Hopkins was instrumental in the creation of the Highway Safety Systems (HSS) Subcommittee focused on critical infrastructure specifications on the provincial and municipal road network.
Mr. Hopkins has studied alongside many roadside safety product manufacturers to gain the capacity to deliver concise and insightful roadside safety training programs. Through the course of his career Mr. Hopkins has worked tirelessly with various road agencies, including the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO), acting as roadside safety product and industry resource.
Awareness, Education, & Collaboration
Innovations Academy’s unique approach to critical safety infrastructure awareness is simple: Bringing together quality training programs to a broad spectrum of Ontario’s roadside hardware community delivered by passionate and experienced instructors.
Why Roadside Safety Training?
The importance of roadside safety hardware training is paramount to the safe operation, maintenance, and inspection of critical safety hardware within the provincial and municipal road network. At Innovations Academy, we want to ensure that all road safety stakeholders understand the installation, inspection, and maintenance best practices pertaining to each critical safety infrastructure device. Understanding the core function of these devices, design considerations, how they are crash tested, and manufacturer maintenance best practices all play a key role to ensure the devices will work as designed when impacted by an errant vehicle.
Importance of Training in the Roadside Safety Industry
Our current training endeavor includes training programs that can be completed without the need to gather in a classroom setting. All the programs offered by Innovations Academy can be completed via virtual platform in the office or at home. Our educational programs were created to offer a comprehensive package of roadside safety hardware training consistent with products currently installed on municipal and provincial roadways. Critical Safety Infrastructure is the focal point of our courses, including current Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH) guidelines implemented through Ontario Provincial Standards (OPS).
Upon completion of our programs, trainees will have a vast comprehension of the variety and function of roadside safety hardware installed throughout the Province. There will also be a sound understanding of the current state of crash worthiness in the overall road safety industry. The direct benefit of participating in a program at Innovations Academy will be improved product knowledge, an increase in road user safety, the ability to identify areas of improvement/concern, sound understanding of crash worthiness, and a record of training certificate documenting successful attendee program completion.
Courses
Innovations Academy would like to introduce a wide variety of Critical Safety Infrastructure training programs.
The training programs were designed and created by our expert staff to provide in depth roadside safety educational opportunities to Engineers, Designers, Contract Administrators, Consultants, Municipal Staff, Installers, Maintenance Contractors, and Specifying Agencies. The global roadside safety industry is evolving rapidly, keeping up with these critical changes can be challenging.
Our mission at Innovations Academy is to Make Education Accessible for Everyone.
Installation / Maintenance Program
6 Hours (One Day In-Person Program, or Multi-Day Virtual Platform)
Temporary Construction Barrier Critical Specification Update – Online Course
1.5 Hours – Virtual Platform
Innovations Academy
About
Our mission is to increase educational opportunities that are available to the public and private transportation critical infrastructure sectors. Provincial and municipal roadway specifications have undergone a vast overhaul in the past 5 years. An unprecedented number of Ontario Provincial Standards and Specifications have been updated, our road network is becoming more complex. As the complexity of the road network evolves, we have recognized an essential need for accessible training programs to ensure all tiers of roadside professionals, both provincially and municipally, stay up to date with the changing roadside safety landscape.
Our training will focus on critical safety infrastructure devices such as: steel beam guide rail, high-tension cable guide rail, end terminals, crash cushions, temporary construction barrier, small sign supports, intermediate sign supports, and a variety of other new technologies that have been implemented through Ontario Provincial Standards (OPS). The need for province wide training has heightened over the last five years as the Ministry of Transportation Ontario (MTO) has set a baseline to their crash worthy device standards in the Roadside Design Manual (RDM). The Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware (MASH 2016) is now the preferred crash test guideline for device implementation. Roadside safety hardware specifications evolve and become more complex in their design, installation, and inspection. Training requirements should evolve in tandem with the increased hardware complexity to ensure all stakeholders maintain adequate training of these critical safety devices.
Clients
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Contractors
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AMC/CDMC Contractors
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Regional/Municipal Design Staff
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Regional/Municipal Capital Staff
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Regional/Municipal Maintenance Staff
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Consulting Engineers
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Contract Administrators
Courses
Innovations Academy would like to introduce a wide variety of Critical Safety Infrastructure training programs.
The training programs were designed and created by our expert staff to provide in depth roadside safety educational opportunities to Engineers, Designers, Contract Administrators, Consultants, Municipal Staff, Installers, Maintenance Contractors, and Specifying Agencies. The global roadside safety industry is evolving rapidly, keeping up with these critical changes can be challenging.
Our mission at Innovations Academy is to Make Education Accessible for Everyone.
Who Attends / Requires Training?
The training programs that we have developed apply to anyone working in the roadside safety field. Designers, Engineers, Consultants, Contract Administrators, Subcontractors, Maintenance Contractors, and Inspectors will all benefit from our roadside safety programs. Upon completion of our programs at Innovations Academy our attendees will have a greater understand of the design, installation/maintenance, and inspection of roadside safety devices.
Who: Designers, Engineers, Consultants, Contract Administrators, Inspectors, Project Managers, Project Coordinators, Policymakers, Safety Advisor, Construction Foreperson, Subcontractors, AMC/CDMC Contractors, Regional/Municipal Staff
Critical safety infrastructure such as roadside safety devices performance is dependant upon proper design, installation/maintenance, and inspection. Any issue relating to site conditions, damaged systems, aging hardware/deficiencies, or deviation from the manufacturer’s installation instructions can put motorists, workers, vulnerable users, and/or emergency services at serious risk in the event of a roadway departure.
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Understanding the function and design of the system is critical knowledge for an engineer designing a transportation project.
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Understanding the proper installation and maintenance techniques is crucial for any contractor working with road safety devices.
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Understanding tolerances, deficiencies, and product conformance plays a key role to the inspection of a device.
All three of these tasks are important, and all should be held to the same high standard. These safety devices are spread across our province and their design, installation, and inspection all play a role in Safer Roads for all Ontario road users.
Training - Why Now (vs. 10 years ago):
With the incorporation of NCHRP 350 and MASH Products the industry has become much more sophisticated. Appropriate training pertaining to installation, repair, maintenance, and inspection of these products is an essential part of that evolution to ensure critical road safety infrastructure operates effectively.
Over the last year there have been several changes to Ontario Provincial Specifications. A new crash testing standard from AASHTO has emerged and been implemented titled ‘Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware’ (MASH). Incorporating MASH tested products into our standards marks a significant change to a minimum level of crash worthiness.
MASH provides the most up to date roadside guidance on crash worthy devices. MASH applies to guide rail, end terminals, crash cushions, high tension cable guide rail, and small/intermediate sign supports. The MTO has now incorporated more MASH tested product into the province of Ontario over any agency in Canada and the US.
As we update standard drawings and specifications it is a due diligence to ensure these sophisticated crash worth devices are installed, repaired, and inspected appropriately.