Traffic Cone Standards in the UK: TSRGD, BS EN 13422 and TSM Chapter 8

Every traffic cone sold into UK road works has to meet BS EN 13422:2004+A1:2009. Not a recommendation. It is law, made so by TSRGD 2016, Schedule 13, Part 8.

Three documents get tangled together in this market, and each one does a different job. TSRGD is the law itself. The European product standard is what the law names. TSM Chapter 8 explains how to lay cones out on site, and on its own it has no legal standing at all.

Mix them up and you can end up with cones that look right, survive a visual check, and still fail the one test that matters.

Three traffic cones, two reflective bands each. Band width and band position are both specified.

What TSRGD 2016 lays down

You will find it at SI 2016/362, Schedule 13, Part 8. This is where UK law defines a cone and sets the conditions it has to satisfy.

• One colour only on the base, and the base shaped as a polygon with no more than eight sides.
• The base has to fit entirely within a circle whose diameter is three quarters of the cone height.
• The four performance points further down this page have to be met.
• Anything white has to be white retroreflecting material. Red parts may also be retroreflecting.
• Manufacturing marks are allowed on the white area, up to 30 cm² and characters no taller than 5 mm, as long as at least 90% of what is left of the white stays retroreflective.

TSM Chapter 8, and what it is not

Traffic Safety Measures and Signs for Road Works and Temporary Situations comes from the Department for Transport, in two parts. Cone sizes, spacing, tapers, site procedure. That is its territory.

Now the part people get wrong. In England, Scotland and Wales this chapter is a code of practice, so it carries no statutory force. An authorised officer in Northern Ireland can decide it applies. Everywhere else it reaches you through the contract, and through whatever the highway authority writes into its specification. Commercially binding. Legally, not.

Four requirements you cannot inspect your way out of

Look at that table again, top half. Rows 5 to 8 you can settle yourself, with a tape measure and a calculator. Rows 1 to 4 you cannot settle at all. Not by looking, not by measuring, not by putting two cones side by side under a torch. The material supplier's test report is the only evidence that exists, and the report has to name the class.

A single wide reflective band on a black base. Nothing on a datasheet proves the class behind it.

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Where buyers go wrong

1. A datasheet that just says "BS EN 13422". The standard works by class. No class named, no answer. LB, R1B or R2B, WT1, W3. Without those designations the sheet has told you nothing about whether the cone is legal.
2. Treating Chapter 8 as the law. Suppliers say it, engineers hear it, and it is wrong. Chapter 8 reaches you through the contract, which is a different mechanism with different consequences.
3. Shopping on height alone. A 750 mm cone and a 900 mm cone can both be compliant. What decides how a cone behaves when a vehicle hits it is the weight class. Under-classed cones are the single most common reason a cone fails a site inspection.
4. Dry results only. Wet retroreflection, Class WT1, is a separate test. Plenty of datasheets quote the dry figure and stop there. In a UK winter that is the number that matters least.

Checking a supplier before you buy

• Ask for the test report rather than the datasheet, and check all four designations are on it: LB, R1B or R2B, WT1, W3.
• Check the report was written against the current edition. A superseded one does not satisfy TSRGD.
• Tape measure out: sides eight or fewer, and the base inside the 0.75 x height circle.
• Look at the white. It should be retroreflecting material, not paint and not plain white PVC.
• Area check the manufacturing marks. 30 cm² maximum, characters 5 mm or under.
• Pick the size for the job, not for the price list. Road type, speed limit and how long the works run all feed into Chapter 8 cone selection.
• Northern Ireland, motorways and dual carriageways with hard shoulders: 1 m cones, nothing smaller.

Two reflective bands. On a 28 to 36 inch cone in the US, two stripes is the requirement.

How the UK compares with the US and Australia

Most markets handle this differently, and it is worth knowing which model you are selling into. The US does not resolve it through one statutory instrument. The MUTCD, adopted by FHWA rule, sets the band geometry in Section 6K.03, and the sheeting is specified by ASTM D4956 type. For cone collars that means Type VI with a Class 5 non-adhesive backing. Our guide to MUTCD cone requirements and reflective tape walks through it.

Australia and New Zealand split it again, and add a second hurdle. Cones sit in a clause of AS 1742.3 rather than in a product standard of their own. Sheeting is governed by AS/NZS 1906.1. Then, for work on a state road network, the product usually has to appear on that authority's approved products or registered suppliers list, which is a separate application with its own evidence and renewal cycle. Our guide to Australian and New Zealand certification covers that, plus the NZGTTM replacement for CoPTTM.

The UK, by comparison, is tidy on paper. One statutory instrument, pointing at one product standard, with four class designations you need a supplier to put in writing.

FAQ

Is the standard compulsory on UK highways, or voluntary?

Compulsory. TSRGD 2016, Schedule 13, Part 8 requires a cone to conform to BS EN 13422, and that applies to cones used on the highway rather than only to cones sold for it. A supplier who describes it as good practice has the wrong end of it.

What about TSM Chapter 8, is that law?

No. It is a code of practice, with no statutory force in England, Scotland and Wales. An authorised officer can deem it to have force in Northern Ireland. What normally makes it binding is the contract, and the highway authority's own specification.

Which class designations should appear on a test report?

Class LB covers daylight chromaticity and luminance factor, Table 2. Class R1B or R2B covers dry retroreflection, Table 4.B. Class WT1 covers wet retroreflection, Table 6. Class W3 covers height and minimum weight, Table 1. Four designations, and all four should be present.

How many sides can a cone base have?

Eight, at most. The base has to be a polygon with not more than eight sides, and it has to fit wholly inside a circle whose diameter is three quarters of the cone height.

Can I use a continental European cone in the UK?

Only if it complies. TSRGD also accepts a corresponding EEA standard where manufacturing information is concerned, though the performance requirements stay as the European standard sets them. A Dutch or German cone that meets the current edition is fine. One that only meets an older edition is not.

If you are specifying cones for a UK project and want the four class designations confirmed in writing, tell us the size and the deployment and we will send the test report with the quotation.

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Sources

• The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2016, SI 2016/362, Schedule 13 Part 8 — legislation.gov.uk
• Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 8, Part 1 (Department for Transport) — Part 1 PDF
• Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 8, Part 2 (Department for Transport) — Part 2 PDF
• BS EN 13422:2004+A1:2009 — cited by TSRGD; obtain the current text from BSI