Source: New Zealand Government
The road cone digital hotline pilot is wrapping up ahead of schedule, after six months of valuable data collection and relationship building with road controlling authorities.
The hotline will close on Friday, 19 December 2025, to coincide with the requirement of NZTA for councils to have a plan in place to apply the new risk-based temporary traffic management guidelines to their local roadworks contracts before approving government funding for those projects.
“This pilot has done exactly what we needed it to do,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden. “We now understand what’s really causing the excessive use of road cones, and changing to a risk-based approach is key to resolving these issues”
When the public see excessive road cones, chances are it’s because the local council signed it off. Site visits revealed that 86% of sites were compliant with the number of cones and other temporary traffic management devices laid out in the council-approved traffic management plans.
The problem seems to be that councils across the country were not required to apply NZTA’s most recent guidance to temporary traffic management, so while the use of road cones may be consistent with council-approved plans, they may still be excessive. Moving forward, NZTA has said all councils must be fully compliant with the new guidance by 1 July 2027.
“That’s a crucial insight. It tells us where efforts should be focussed,” says Ms van Velden.
The hotline also met its three core objectives: giving the public a voice, identifying the root causes of concern, and clarifying WorkSafe’s role in relation to temporary traffic management.
“Beyond the data, WorkSafe has built important working relationships with those responsible for temporary traffic management. That collaborative approach will continue as they work with NZTA to help councils better understand risk-based compliance,” says Ms van Velden.
The pilot was initiated to understand the causes of perceived overcompliance in temporary traffic management and to clarify WorkSafe’s enforcement role. Some stakeholders felt they could not take a more risk-based approach (as recommended by NZTA), as they were concerned WorkSafe could take action against them for being under-compliant.
WorkSafe Inspectors have received training in TTM and the new NZTA guidance and will continue to integrate it into their business-as-usual assessments. This is part of an overall culture change programme at WorkSafe to ensure it is a consistent, clear and proportionate regulator.
Lessons learnt from the pilot will also be applied to improve how WorkSafe, receives and responds to feedback from the public and businesses.
