NU-SAF-106 — FLAGGER OPERATIONS & CERTIFICATION

Tier 2/3 — Procedure + Field Card · Rev DRAFT · Drafted August 2, 2026 · Owner: Field Supervisor Parent: NU-SAF-100 §5 element 6. Sister document: NU-SAF-105 says WHEN flaggers are required. This document says WHO may flag and HOW.

THE GATE

No current flagger card = you are not a flagger today. Not "took a class once," not "flagged for years at the last company," not "the card is at the house." Current card, on the roster in §3, card producible on site. No carded flaggers on site = Nova does not take the lane (NU-SAF-105 §4.3) — reschedule, work the shoulder, or call the Supervisor.

The record for this gate: the card itself (carried), the roster row in the NU-SAF-124 training matrix, and the flagger-names-plus-cert-status line on the DFR that NU-SAF-105 §8 already requires. An uncarded man holding a paddle means the lane was taken without flaggers — that is the existing Class C in NU-PPL-403 (6 points; repeat within 90 days = 12 points = Termination tier under NU-PPL-403's additive ladder), same as NU-SAF-105 §8 states it.

1. WHY THIS DOCUMENT EXISTS

NU-SAF-105 built the rule: two flaggers, both directions, every time Nova takes a lane. The register (NU-GOV-000) then asked the obvious next question: "Who is a certified flagger, and where is the card? No answer today." This document is the answer — and until §3 has names in it, the honest answer stays "nobody," which means today Nova cannot take a lane. That is not a paperwork gap. It is work Nova cannot bid.

2. THE CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENT

2.1 What the law and the specs require

• OSHA 29 CFR 1926.201(a): flagger signaling and the use of flaggers must conform to MUTCD Part 6. This applies on every job, private or public.
• MUTCD Part 6: flaggers must be trained in safe traffic control practices before controlling traffic.
• GDOT Standard Specifications Section 150 (Traffic Control): on state-route and GDOT-let work, flaggers must hold a current certification from a GDOT-recognized program, and the project needs a certified Worksite Traffic Control Supervisor (WTCS) on top of that. [Confirm exact Section 150 flagger and WTCS language as part of the pending GDOT registration — same open flag as NU-SAF-105 §7.]
• Client prequals (Congruex Unify and the like) ask for flagger certs by name in the training records.

2.2 What counts as a card

• ATSSA flagger certification, or an equivalent GDOT-recognized program (National Safety Council or a state-DOT-approved course). [Adam: pick the provider — ATSSA is the default answer every GC and GDOT inspector recognizes.]
• Card validity runs 3–4 years depending on the certifying provider — confirm the exact term once the provider (above) is chosen, and update this line before the roster's expiry-alert math (§8) is finalized. Renewal = retake the course. There is no grace period: a card that expired yesterday is no card.
• A toolbox talk is not a card. NU-SAF-105 training is not a card. The Day 1–2 book (NU-PPL-405) is not a card. The card comes from a certifying provider with a card number and an expiration date on it.

2.3 What a flagger has to be, beyond the card

Able to see and hear approaching traffic, able to stand a full shift at the station, able to communicate a clear instruction to a driver through a window, and awake to what is behind them. If a man can't do those four things today — heat, injury, whatever — he is not a flagger today, card or not. Crew Lead's call, Supervisor backs it.

2.4 The DOT note

Flagger certification does not hang on the DOT number — it is an OSHA / MUTCD / GDOT requirement and it applies to Nova today. Noted here only because prequal packages ask for both: USDOT 4221697 shows INACTIVE in SAFER as of 8/1/26 (likely a lapsed MCS-150). Reactivation is an open office task tracked under NU-FLT-313 — every DOT-touching requirement in this library is drafted as applying, with that reactivation flagged, not assumed away.

3. THE ROSTER — WHO MAY FLAG AT NOVA

Only the names on this table flag. This table is mirrored as rows in the NU-SAF-124 matrix (Softr), and the DFR flagger line has to match it.

Today this table is empty. NU-SAF-105 §9 item 2 flagged it; it is still open. Recommendation: certify every Crew Lead plus one second man per crew — a lane closure eats two men full-time on paddles, so a crew of three taking a lane has one man left to do the work. Lane-closure days are 4-man-minimum days; scheduling needs to know that (NU-GOV-004 nightly post).

4. THE FLAGGER STATION

4.1 Position

• As a floor, use the NU-SAF-105 §3 buffer-space distance for the speed — it's conservative and easy to remember. [Adam/Supervisor: confirm against MUTCD flagger-positioning guidance before treating this as the exact standard.] 35 mph road = station 250 ft ahead of the work.
• Stand on the shoulder, next to the lane you control. Step into the closed lane only after traffic has stopped, and step back out before releasing it. Never stand in a live lane. Never stand in the open lane.
• A driver has to be able to see you for the full station distance. Curve or hill crest in the way = move the station back before the curve — same rule as NU-SAF-105 §7, and same call to the Supervisor if it doesn't fit.
• Stand alone. A flagger in a cluster of men is invisible. Nobody stages, parks, or socializes at the station.
• Night = lighted station. The station itself is illuminated, the paddle is retroreflective or lighted, and apparel is Class 3 — per NU-SAF-105 §6.4, no exceptions.

4.2 Escape path

Before the first car is stopped, the flagger picks the escape path — where he goes if a vehicle doesn't stop — and keeps it clear all day. No spoil pile, no trailer, no open hole between the station and the escape path. Face traffic. Never turn your back on approaching traffic. Never sit. Never phone. A flagger who has to look at the work turns sideways, not around.

4.3 Leaving the station

Nobody leaves a station without relief. Water, bathroom, anything — call for relief on the radio, or the operation stops and traffic is released before the flagger walks. In summer, rotate flaggers on the water/rest cadence in NU-SAF-112 — a heat-fogged flagger is a hazard to the whole crew.

5. EQUIPMENT

LOADOUT CHECK. NU-SAF-105 §5.2 found the cone loadout short; this document has the same question about paddles. A lane closure needs two paddles and two radios on the truck before it leaves the yard. [Adam: confirm the NU-PPL-403 truck loadout includes 2 STOP/SLOW paddles + 2 radios + night lighting, or add them — see §9.]

6. HAND SIGNALING STANDARD (MUTCD Part 6 — this is not freestyle)

Three signals. Only three. Every Nova flagger uses the same three, so every driver and every other Nova flagger knows exactly what is meant.

6.1 To STOP traffic

Face traffic. STOP face toward the driver, arm extended horizontally away from the body, paddle still. Free arm raised, palm toward the driver. Hold both until traffic is stopped — a waved STOP paddle reads as confusion, not command.

6.2 To RELEASE stopped traffic

Face traffic. Turn the paddle to SLOW. Motion traffic through with the free hand. Never wave traffic through with the paddle — the paddle only ever shows a face, it never gestures.

6.3 To SLOW traffic (without stopping it)

Face traffic. SLOW face toward the driver. Free arm out, palm down, slow up-and-down motion.

6.4 Flags — emergency only

A red flag (24" minimum) is the fallback when a paddle is not available in a true emergency, never the plan. To stop: flag extended horizontally across the lane, still. To release: flag lowered, free hand motions traffic through. If a Nova crew is flagging with flags on a planned job, the loadout failed — log it (NU-SAF-105 §6.2 count rule) and fix it.

7. TWO-FLAGGER OPERATION — THE NU-SAF-105 TIE

NU-SAF-105 §4.3 sets the requirement and it is repeated here once, verbatim in effect: taking a lane = flaggers both directions, paddles, radios, Class 3, and no certified flaggers on site means Nova does not take the lane. That document owns the work-zone layout. This document owns the two people holding the paddles:

1. Before the first car is stopped, the two flaggers radio-check and agree which one calls the releases. One voice. The other flagger releases nothing on his own.
2. Both directions are never released at the same time. Both paddles show STOP, then one direction gets SLOW, clears the lane, and confirms clear on the radio before the other direction moves. Both showing SLOW at once is a head-on in the work zone.
3. Radio contact is continuous. Radio dies = both paddles go to STOP, traffic holds, and the operation pauses until contact is back. Not line of sight — radio (NU-SAF-105 §4.3).
4. Pilot-car and long one-lane operations are beyond this card — that setup gets a Supervisor call on its own (these operations often coincide with a NU-SAF-105 §7 trigger, but the call is required either way).

8. TRAINING, RENEWAL & RECORDS (Tier 4 — the form)

NU-SAF-106-F — Flagger Roster & Card Record. Not a separate paper form: it lives as rows in the NU-SAF-124 training matrix in Softr, one row per flagger, fields exactly as the §3 table (name, provider, card #, issued, expires, card photo attached). The physical card rides in the flagger's wallet — GDOT inspectors and GC safety men ask for it on the spot.

Renewal rule: the matrix flags every card at 60 days from expiry, and the office books the renewal class then — not the week the card dies. A card that expires mid-job gets caught at assignment, not at the station. [Adam: hand the 60-day expiry alert to Steve with the NU-SAF-124 Softr build.]

Accountability tie-in (NU-PPL-403): lane taken with an uncarded flagger = lane taken without flaggers = Class C, 6 points, on the Crew Lead who assigned it — and repeat within 90 days = 12 points = Termination tier under NU-PPL-403's additive ladder. Card not produced on request on site = fix it that day and log it on the DFR.

NEVER

• Never flag without a current card. That is the gate.
• Never turn your back on approaching traffic.
• Never stand in a live lane, or in the open lane.
• Never wave traffic with the paddle — the paddle shows a face, the free hand gestures.
• Never release both directions at once.
• Never leave the station without relief on it or traffic released.
• Never phone, never headphones, never sit at the station.
• Never let an uncarded man "just hold the paddle for a minute." He can set cones and signs (NU-SAF-105 §6). He cannot control live traffic.

FIELD CARD — FLAGGER (Tier 3 — laminate, truck copy)

BEFORE THE FIRST CAR: ☐ Card current + in pocket ☐ Class 3 on ☐ Paddle + charged radio ☐ Station at the NU-SAF-105 §3 buffer distance ☐ Visible the full distance (no curve/crest between you and traffic) ☐ Escape path picked and clear ☐ Radio check with the other flagger — agree who calls releases ☐ Night: lighted station + reflective paddle

THE THREE SIGNALS: - STOP — face traffic · STOP face out · arm horizontal, paddle still · free palm up at driver - RELEASE — SLOW face out · wave them through with the FREE HAND only - SLOW — SLOW face out · free palm down, slow up-down

TWO-FLAGGER RULES: one voice calls releases · never both directions at once · radio dies = both STOP, hold, pause the operation

IF A DRIVER BLOWS THE STATION: move to your escape path immediately — shout/radio "runner, runner" as you go, don't stop to key up first. Get clear, then confirm on the radio once you're safe.

NO CARD = NOT A FLAGGER TODAY. NO FLAGGERS = NO LANE (NU-SAF-105).

DONE WHEN

• §3 roster has at least two names with current cards, card photos in the NU-SAF-124 matrix — because two is the minimum to take a single lane.
• Every truck that can be dispatched to lane work carries 2 paddles + 2 radios + night lighting, confirmed on the loadout.
• The 60-day expiry alert is live in Softr.
• Any day a lane is taken, the DFR flagger line matches the §3 roster — spot-checked on the NU-GOV-004 Friday scorecard.
• A GC or GDOT inspector who asks a Nova flagger for his card gets it out of a wallet in under a minute.

9. WHAT THIS DOCUMENT NEEDS FROM ADAM

1. Fill the roster (§3). This is NU-SAF-105 §9 item 2, still open. Until there are names, Nova cannot take a lane, and every quote that assumes a lane closure is quoting work the company can't legally staff.
2. Pick the provider and book the class. [Adam: ATSSA, NSC, or a GDOT-recognized equivalent — and who goes: recommendation is every Crew Lead + one second per crew, 6 cards.]
3. Confirm the truck loadout carries 2 paddles + 2 radios + night lighting, or add them (§5). Same decision family as the 105 cone-count question.
4. Hand Steve the Softr rows: NU-SAF-106-F fields into the NU-SAF-124 matrix + the 60-day expiry alert (§8).
5. GDOT WTCS: state-route work needs a certified Worksite Traffic Control Supervisor above the flagger certs — fold that into the pending GDOT registration decision, and confirm the Section 150 language (§2.1).

NU-SAF-106 · Rev DRAFT · Nova Underground · Parent: NU-SAF-100 · Sister: NU-SAF-105 · Register: NU-GOV-000 · Uncontrolled when printed.