Site traffic terms, in plain English.
Answer-first definitions of the terms that show up in VMPs, audits and toolbox talks. Written for site teams, not lawyers.
Vehicle Management Plan
A Vehicle Management Plan (VMP) is a site-specific plan showing how vehicles, mobile plant and people are kept apart on a work site — routes, exclusion zones, gates, parking, pedestrian segregation and the rules that govern them. It's a core control for traffic risk under WHS law and is expected to be kept current and communicated to everyone on site.
Traffic Management Plan
A TMP covers how traffic risks are managed for work affecting public roads — detours, signage, speed changes. Broader than a VMP, which focuses on movements inside the site boundary.
What's the difference?
The TMP faces the road; the VMP faces the site. Many projects need both: a TMP for public-road interfaces, a VMP for internal movements. SitePilot is built for the VMP — the plan that changes most often.
Traffic Guidance Scheme
A TGS is the drawing that shows temporary signs and devices for roadwork — cones, barriers, signage layouts, usually to AS 1742.3. Often an attachment to a TMP.
Construction VMP
A CVMP is a VMP for a construction project specifically — some contracts and state guidance use the term to distinguish construction-phase plans from operational ones.
Safe Work Method Statement
A SWMS is required for high-risk construction work, including work near traffic or mobile plant. It documents the hazards, controls and how work proceeds — the VMP is often a referenced control.
Exclusion zone
An exclusion zone is an area people must not enter while a hazard is active — a crane lift radius, a tipping area. On a living plan, zones can alert on entry rather than relying on memory.
Pedestrian segregation
Keeping people and vehicles physically apart — dedicated walkways, barriers, separate gates. The hierarchy of control prefers separation over signage, and the VMP is where it's drawn.
Prohibition notice
A prohibition notice stops an activity an inspector reasonably believes involves serious risk (s195, WHS Act) until the risk is remedied. Out-of-date or uncommunicated traffic plans are a common trigger on civil sites.
Improvement notice
An improvement notice requires a contravention to be fixed within a set time. Less drastic than a prohibition notice, but it lands on the record and invites follow-up.
Spotter
A spotter directs plant movements when the operator's view is compromised — reversing, blind corners, work near services. Spotter positions and protocols belong on the VMP.
Swept path
A swept path is the envelope a vehicle actually occupies through a turn — wider than the vehicle itself. Swept path analysis proves a route fits before a truck finds out it doesn't.
WHS management plan
Construction projects worth $250,000 or more require a written WHS management plan covering arrangements, responsibilities and consultation. Traffic management is a standard component.
Mobile plant
Mobile plant is powered machinery that moves — excavators, loaders, rollers, telehandlers, franna cranes. Interactions between mobile plant and people are one of construction's biggest killers.
Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking
The PCBU is the entity holding the primary duty of care under WHS law — usually the contractor or employer. Traffic risk management, including the VMP, sits under this duty.
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