Walking into a new workplace can feel overwhelming, especially when that workplace involves forklifts, delivery trucks, and pedestrian traffic all sharing the same space. A Traffic Controls Map serves as your new employee's roadmap to staying safe, but only if they can actually read and understand it.
Too many businesses rely on hastily drawn sketches or outdated diagrams that leave staff and visitors more confused than informed. The difference between a professional Traffic Controls Map and a makeshift one could literally be the difference between a safe workplace and a serious accident.
A Traffic Controls Map is essentially a site plan that focuses specifically on traffic management controls within your premises. Think of it as a bird's-eye view blueprint that shows how vehicles, pedestrians, and equipment move safely through your warehouse, loading yard, or business facility.
Unlike general site plans that might show every building detail, a Traffic Controls Map zeroes in on the movements that matter most for safety while showing the placement of safety controls that support your traffic management plan. It highlights pedestrian walkways, vehicle routes, loading zones, emergency exits, and areas where different types of traffic intersect, along with the specific placement of barriers, safety signage, mirrors, wheel stops, and line marking.
These maps become particularly valuable during staff onboarding, but they're also helpful to display on conditions of entry signage at front gates and driver safety zones to show truck drivers, visitors, and contractors where they should go.
Instead of spending hours explaining complex procedures, you can provide new employees with a clear visual guide that works hand in hand with your traffic management plan. While the traffic management plan outlines the procedures and processes that all staff and visitors must follow onsite, the Traffic Controls Map shows the physical layout along with the placement of safety controls. By using the 'traffic light method' with green for safe zones, orange for shared zones, and red for exclusion zones, these maps are easy for people of any language or nationality to understand because there's no language barrier.
Download our Risk Assessment Template to identify and mitigate hazards in your warehouse.
A scruffy, hard-to-read Traffic Controls Maps create more problems than it solves. When staff can't distinguish between a pedestrian path and a vehicle route, or when key safety zones aren't clearly marked, you're essentially setting up your team for potential accidents.
Hand-drawn maps often lack consistency in symbols and colours, making them difficult to interpret quickly during busy periods. We often see Traffic Controls Maps created internally by clients with lines drawn all over the map, pointing to various safety controls and trying to explain what they are directly on the map, rather than using a clear key or consistent symbols. This creates confusion and clutter. Outdated maps showing routes that no longer exist or missing newly implemented safety measures can be equally dangerous.
Professional-looking Traffic Controls Maps eliminate this confusion. They use standardised symbols, consistent colour coding, and clear labelling that anyone can understand at a glance. The visual clarity means faster comprehension during training and better compliance with safety protocols during daily operations.
Creating a professional Traffic Controls Map requires attention to several fundamental elements that work together to ensure clarity and usability. Each component serves a specific purpose in helping staff navigate your site safely and efficiently.
Colour-coded walkways and zones help make Traffic Controls Maps clear and easy to understand. Different colours should represent different types of traffic and zones. Green indicates safe zones and is often used for driver safety zones. Orange is used for shared zones where forklifts, mobile plants, and pedestrians operate together. Red represents exclusion zones, which are designated for mobile plants only, with no pedestrian access allowed. Using these consistent colour codes ensures the map can be quickly and easily understood by everyone on site.
Your map needs a comprehensive legend that explains every symbol, colour, and marking used. This shouldn't be an afterthought tucked into a corner, but a prominent reference that makes your map self-explanatory.
Complex artistic renderings might look impressive, but they're not practical for quick reference. Simple, universally understood symbols work better than detailed illustrations. A triangle for yield, a circle with a line through it for prohibition, and basic directional arrows communicate more effectively than elaborate graphics.
This is where many businesses go wrong when they try to create a site plan using raw Google Maps satellite imagery. While satellite images provide accurate layouts, they may be cluttered with visual noise that makes it difficult to distinguish between roads, footpaths, dirt tracks, and other ground features. A professional Traffic Controls Map strips away this visual clutter.
However, some clients prefer Google Maps backgrounds for easier recognition of familiar landmarks, depending on business type and site size. Warehouses and indoor facilities typically benefit from cleaner maps, while outdoor sites like quarries work better with Google Maps imagery. Regardless of background choice, focus on clear boundaries and minimal distractions.
If you're planning to create a site plan yourself, Canva offers an accessible alternative to professional design software like AutoCAD. While you might not find a site management plan template for traffic control, you can build an effective layout using basic design principles.
Here's a practical approach:
Start by obtaining a satellite image of your site. Import this into Canva and reduce its transparency to around 50 per cent. This creates a useful guide that you can trace over without the visual clutter dominating your final design.
Use Canva's line tools to draw clear boundaries for pedestrian areas, vehicle routes, and safety zones. Add simple shapes to represent buildings, loading docks, and equipment storage areas. Apply your chosen colour scheme consistently throughout the map.
Before finalising your design, walk through your actual site to verify that everything depicted matches the ground reality. Are the footpaths shown on your map actually visible as distinct walkways on site? Do the vehicle routes you've drawn reflect how traffic actually flows?
Creating a professional-looking Traffic Controls Map yourself involves more time than most business owners initially expect. Depending on the site size and complexity, you'll likely spend a full day documenting current traffic control areas and safety measures and taking measurements.
The actual design process typically requires 3-5 days, depending on the size of the site and its complexities, and especially if you're learning new software in the process. This includes multiple revisions as you gather feedback and refine the layout, adjust colours, and ensure all safety elements are properly represented.
Implementation adds another layer of time investment. You'll need to integrate the final map into your induction materials, upload it to your intranet or safety systems, and arrange for physical copies to be installed onsite (e.g., Conditions of Entry signage).
Altogether, producing a Traffic Controls Map in-house often ranges from 2-3 weeks of focused effort. More importantly, this means taking valuable time away from other high-priority safety responsibilities that require your attention, such as conducting safety audits, updating procedures, training staff, or addressing identified hazards.
While creating your own site management plan is possible, professional assistance often proves more cost-effective when you factor in time, expertise, and the potential consequences of getting it wrong.
SafeQuip's team brings extensive experience in creating site safety documentation that meets Australian standards. We understand the specific requirements for different types of facilities and can create Traffic Controls Maps that integrate seamlessly with your existing safety protocols.
Ready to create a Traffic Controls Map that actually works for your business? Contact us to arrange a site visit or online consultation.