Part of the President Barack Obama’s economic stimulus package will pay people to stand around. A steep increase in road projects means there’s high demand for flaggers. Washington state will be spending 341-million dollars on various paving projects this summer. Correspondent Ryan Morden sat in on a flagger training course and found standing around is a lot harder than it looks.

Flaggers are literally one step from death. That’s what Sue Smith tells her class at Green River Community College in Auburn Washington.

Sue Smith: “It looks like a real easy job, it looks like you stand there and hold a sign and that’s it. But, it’s a lot more dangerous. It’s physically demanding, and mentally demanding and there’s a lot of nuts out on the road basically.

To make the point, Smith starts off each class by reading newspaper clips of fellow flaggers injured or even killed on the job.

Sue Smith: “Vehicle did not see the second flagger, she turned the corner and hit him – and what I think happened on this is we had construction signs here and the construction around the corner. I think what happened is the flagger was right at the corner. So think about that when you’re in that situation. Move back 30 or 40 feet and give those people time to come around and realize what’s going on.”

Smith knows what she’s talking about, she’s been at it since 1982. She’s clocked more than 20-thousand hours of holding that familiar paddle sign that says “stop” on one side and “slow” and the other.

Sue Smith: “This is not a job where you go out and practice. You basically have to come in here and get the card, go through the class then go out and learn what the heck you’re doing out there.”

That card is a certification card that makes a flagger legal. Along with a hard hat, a snazzy reflective vest and that paddle sign, these students will be certified to flag in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana. Signs of the region’s economic slow down have shown up in Smith’s classroom.

Sue Smith: “I usually go around my class and find out why you’re taking it. What I’ve found these past few months is a lot of people are lay offs”

Keith Linderman – sitting in the second row – gives a knowing nod.

Keith Linderman: “Part of the many thousands that got laid off and looking for more work.”

So is Jay Rains.

Jay Rains: “I’ve been in tree work for 5 years now. Got laid off, not enough work out there...figured construction, flagging. It’s on demand now I guess.”

Another student in the training course, Victoria Peterson, says there’s a lot more to flagging than she expected.

Victoria Peterson: “It’s pretty darn complicated, But I mean it looks cool. It looks interesting and I think I’ll like it. There’s a lot of things I didn’t consider before” ...like the psychological effects of directing

traffic day after day. Sue Smith says you’d be surprised what that does to some people. She see says some flaggers loose their sense of fear and get complacent about the danger.

Sue Smith: “You feel like God. I don’t know if that makes any sense to you, but when you can direct 30-thousand people in a day – ya know, if you like having control, this is a really good job – and you get to a point sometimes where you can get an attitude: I can do anything, I can solve anything—and when you’ve gotten to that point and you’re not afraid, it’s time to get out." Caution aside, now is the time to get in

because flaggers are among the 10-thousand jobs this transportation spending is projected to create in region. James Baron from the American Traffic Safety Services Association says drivers across country the can expect to see a lot of orange signs on the roads.

James Baron: “We used to say, a couple years ago, you can expect to see a work zone every 50 miles you travel but we’re anticipating this spring and this summer probably one of the busiest roadway work zone packages we’ve seen across the country in years. There’s gonna be a lot of work going on out there.” Sue Smith wants drivers to have empathy when they see flaggers on those jobs.

Sue Smith: “We’re not doing nothing. People just need to slow down and quit being mad at us for doing improvements.”

In fact one of the first federally funded road projects to get underway is paving on I-90 near Ellensburg Washington.

Copyright 2009 KUOW

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