This digital hotline is part of WorkSafe’s 12-month pilot programme aimed at reducing excessive use of road cones nationwide, starting in June 2025.

The road cone pilot programme is part of health and safety reforms announced by the Government in March: First set of changes for health and safety reform | Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment(external link)

The cost of the pilot is being funded through WorkSafe's existing baseline funding.

Road cones are widely used in temporary traffic management (TTM) in New Zealand. However, there are incidences of road cones not being removed upon the completion of road work in a timely manner, unapproved use of road cones, and road cone use that is excessive and beyond what is necessary.

We will conduct a joint engagement programme with NZ Transport Agency/Waka Kotahi (NZTA) and key industry stakeholders to help those involved with TTM understand and meet the expectations of NZTA’s guide to temporary traffic management.

This will explain how their duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) intersect with TTM practices, addressing any confusion which may have led to overcompliance.

We want to see road cone use that is fit for purpose, to manage the risks of the specific job and job site.

WorkSafe has consulted with and will continue to work with key stakeholders in the TTM ecosystem throughout the pilot. These include NZTA, councils, Auckland Transport, the Road Efficiency Group Te Ringa Maimoa, and the Temporary Traffic Management Industry Steering Group. 

The pilot does not cover the following:

• Health and safety concerns – use our Raise a health or safety concern form to tell us about a business not managing its health and safety risks.
• Abuse to road workers – raise any specific incidents with the Police.
• Abandoned road cones – report these to the local council.
• Concerns about how ratepayers’ or taxpayers’ money is being used – raise it with your local council or MP.
• Concerns that a business or organisation is paying more for temporary traffic management than they need to, due to overcompliance – raise it with NZTA or the local council.
• Too many roadworks going on in general – raise it with NZTA or the local council.

To report a road incident, call *555 for non-life threatening incidents or 111 for emergencies.

Find your local council: Council websites and maps | Local Government New Zealand(external link) 

When we receive a report through the road cone digital hotline, we will use the information to identify the region and which road controlling authority (RCA) is responsible, contact them to assess whether there is excessive use of road cones, provide advice, and monitor actions taken.

We will assess each report received through the digital hotline to determine which response is appropriate in the circumstances, such as:

• passing the information to the Road Efficiency Group and to the RCA for action
• setting up an education session with the RCA or temporary traffic management (TTM) provider
• sending an inspector to the site.

We will analyse the data from the digital hotline reports to identify patterns in the volume and location of reporting we receive, descriptions of issues raised, and outcomes. This will help us to be more proactive over time as we gain more data and can see where there are ‘hot spots’ with lots of reports. We will use this information to target our engagements and education.

We will focus on engagement and education, rather than enforcement, to influence the behaviour of those involved with TTM and help them understand how to meet their responsibilities to ensure work is healthy and safe.

We will conduct a joint engagement programme with the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) and key industry stakeholders to provide education to those involved with TTM.

Our engagement approach will ensure that those responsible for TTM are aware of what the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 (HSWA) requires, and how following NZTA’s risk-based guidance for TTM supports that, to ensure a misunderstanding of HSWA requirements is not leading to overcompliance.

Road cones are widely used in temporary traffic management (TTM). TTM primarily exists to protect the public and workers.

TTM is needed for road construction activities, but also other work that impacts road users, such as public events, tree-work near the road, and installing cables and pipes.

Anyone who plans to do work that alters the normal operating conditions of the road corridor must have a traffic management plan approved by the road controlling authority (RCA). The layout of road cones should reflect what has been outlined in the traffic management plan. This means that the RCA has the detail around why road cones are there (or if they shouldn’t be where they are). 

The New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) is the road controlling authority (RCA) for state highways.

Local councils are the RCAs for local public roads within their respective regions. This includes Auckland Transport.

List of local councils: Council websites and maps | Local Government New Zealand(external link) 

Since 2000, temporary traffic management (TTM) has been largely dictated by the Code of practice for temporary traffic management (CoPTTM). This has since been superseded by the 2023 New Zealand guide to temporary traffic management (NZGTTM)(external link) that outlines a more risk-based approach to TTM.

The NZGTTM guide aligns with our good practice guidelines to keep workers healthy and safe while working on the road or roadside: Keeping healthy and safe while working on the road or roadside

The shift from CoPTTM to NZGTTM is a significant change requiring those involved in TTM to make a step change in their work practices to design TTM solutions (including the use of road cones) based on risk. This means the level of TTM should always match the level of risk. The outcome will be fewer unnecessary road cones.

It’s important to understand the purpose of road cones is to keep the public and workers safe around a work site.

Between 2019 and 2023, there were 42 fatal and 314 serious injury crashes at sites where there was a temporary speed limit in place. NZTA figures suggest that most deaths and serious injuries at roadwork sites are road users, approximately 95%. Road workers are involved in approximately 5% of road work site deaths and serious injuries.

Concerningly, we are hearing about an increase in levels of abuse road workers are receiving. The 2024 national traffic controller safety survey in Australia found that the majority of traffic controllers report experiencing verbal abuse, non-compliance with basic traffic controller instructions, and near misses while on the job. This year, this survey is being conducted in partnership with New Zealand's Temporary Traffic Management Industry Steering Group, to hear from traffic controllers in New Zealand as well as Australia. 

See Weekly road cone notifications data for stats about the notifications we receive.