Highways industry focuses on traffic-island safety
New guidance has been developed by the highways industry to address what it says are the myriad foreseeable risks involved in working in restricted spaces such as traffic islands.
According to the Highways Electrical Association (HEA) Safety Committee tyre marks on islands, visible damage to bollards, and narrow lane widths are evidence that, for normal use, there is not enough room provided. Larger vehicles, such as buses, have difficulties negotiating the tight angles and turning circles are impossibly tight.
Add in barriers and cones for roadworks, said the Committee, and the level of risk for road workers and users increases.
Consequently, it set about producing and publishing Best Practice Guidance for Working at Centre Islands and Pedestrian Refuges to reinforce a common standard of working practices across the industry and cover any gaps in the current available guidance.*
The document is intended to act as guidance for clients, designers and those involved in the installation, maintenance and removal of highway electrical and associated equipment on centre-island sites. It covers the activities for completing the necessary work, as well as the temporary traffic management required to keep road users and workers safe. €
This eBook will guide you through some of the key understandings you need to be able to manage driver safety effectively and, at the end, provide a series of free resources you can access to help you ensure your own driver safety management system is robust, legally compliant and in line with industry-accepted good practice.
Download this eBook from Driving for Better Business and SHP to cover:
- Why do we need to manage driver safety?
- Duty of care – a shared responsibility;
- Setting the rules with a driving for work policy;
- Managing driver safety;
- Ensuring safe vehicles;
- Safe journeys and fitness to drive;
- Record keeping;
- Reporting;
- The business benefits of good practice;
- Additional resources
Highways industry focuses on traffic-island safety
New guidance has been developed by the highways industry to address what it says are the myriad foreseeable risks involved in working in restricted spaces such as traffic islands.
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Among road workers; there appears about two, annual traffic fatalities and sixteen injuries, on average; since 2003. This represents about 1/1000 of all UK road fatalities and a twentieth of one percent of all traffic injuries.
Little data exists to suggest how many of this small fraction of accidents arises from incidents at traffic islands.
Effort might be better spent on driver training and awareness, to reduce the relative increase in pedestrian accidents, since seat-belts were mandated!