Tackling roadworker safety – Atkins campaigns to reduce injuries - 14 February 2011
Printer-friendly version
PDF versionThe number of roadworkers being killed and seriously injured on the UK’s major roads has more than doubled over the past two years1 and it has led to a major push to educate motorists, particularly lorry drivers, into being more careful when they pass roadworks. The UK’s biggest engineering design consultancy, Atkins, has now started its own campaign to build awareness after a number of its people were involved in near-misses as a result of drivers' carelessness.
The campaign, called Safe by Choice, is tackling two key safety issues: the role Impact Protection Vehicles (IPVs) play in protecting roadworkers, and the use of CCTV on Stop/Go boards to identify drivers who ignore the signs and drive straight through works areas.
To add visual impact, Atkins has developed a training DVD for lorry drivers as a result of an accident in which an employees’ Impact Protection Vehicle was hit by a lorry whilst he was protecting a team of road workers in the carriageway. The DVD is being distributed to a number of lorry firms across the UK, and is also posted onYouTube.
Another Atkins worker was injured by a car which ignored a Stop/Go sign and drove straight through a section of roadworks. The car struck a sign which hit the road worker causing him to suffer a serious head injury.
Steve Clayton, from Atkins’ Somerset Highways commission, developed new CCTV Stop/Go boards as a way of gathering evidence to assist in prosecuting offenders from similar incidents. He says: “CCTV cameras in the Stop/Go board enable us to film anyone driving through the stop sign or anyone found to be abusing our people. We can then take the footage to the police who could file for prosecution. These sorts of measures are now vital as the only alternative if this sort of dangerous behaviour continues may be to close roads in order to carry out works.”
Atkins’ IPV DVD and the CCTV on Stop/Go boards will be featured on BBC’s Inside Out East of England programme on BBC 1 and BBC One HD on Monday 14 February at 7.30pm.
Ends
For further information:
Louisa Perry
Communications Manager
+44(0)1372 756297 / +44(0)7970 575193
Notes to editors:
1. Highways Agency figures for roadworker KSIs on England's motorways and major trunk roads (N.B. they do not cover Wales or Scotland or local authority roads):
• 2007 fatal 0, major 14, slight 29
• 2008 fatal 1, major 23, slight 54
• 2009 fatal 1, major 35, slight 75
Atkins (www.atkinsglobal.com) is the UK’s largest engineering and design consultancy and the world’s 11th largest design firm. We have the depth and breadth of expertise to respond to the most technically challenging and time critical infrastructure projects and the urgent transition to a low-carbon economy. Whether it’s the concept for a new skyscraper, the upgrade of a rail network, the modelling of a flood defence system or the improvement of a management process, we plan, design and enable solutions.
Atkins’ Highway Services business runs a number of contracts across the UK:
• Atkins was appointed by the Highways Agency as the Managing Agent Contractor (MAC) for its Area 6 network in Spring 2008 - providing integrated highway management and maintenance services for almost 1300kms of motorway and trunk roads within the counties of Cambridgeshire, Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk.
• Atkins also runs highways operation and maintenance contracts in Somerset, Gloucestershire, Cambridgeshire and Bath and North East Somerset
• Atkins is also part of the M25 30-year maintenance contract, Connect Plus Services.
Atkins was named Consultancy of the Year in the CIBSE Low Carbon Performance Awards 2010; received the first ever certification of the Carbon Trust Standard awarded to an engineering consultancy in the construction sector; and was named among The Times Top 50 Companies Where Women Want to Work 2009 and The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers 2010. Atkins was also construction and civil engineering sector winner for the fifth consecutive year in the Target National Graduate Recruitment Awards 2010 and was awarded a RoSPA Gold Award 2010 for excellence in control of health and safety in the workplace.
Atkins is the official engineering design services provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
News Source : Tackling roadworker safety – Atkins campaigns to reduce injuries - 14 February 2011
Copy this html code to your website/blog and link to this press release.
More User Press Releases
- Atkins welcomes the Government’s carbon floor price announced in today’s budget - 23 March 2011
- Atkins acquires complementary skills in the power generation sector - 14 March 2011
- Atkins and the Department for Transport publish aviation options for London 2012 - 17 March 2011
- Keith Clarke: Low Carbon Economy – can engineers start to define questions rather than answer them? - 07 March 2011
- Atkins listed as one of UK’s top employers - 07 March 2011
- Atkins reclaims place in list of UK’s top employers - 07 March 2011
- Converted salt caverns will boost UK’s gas storage - 01 March 2011
- Atkins supports DECC's 2050 Pathway carbon calculator - 03 March 2011
- Q3 2010/11 Interim Management Statement - 16 February 2011
- Analyst Presentation - 10 February 2011
Facebook
Twitter
del.icio.us
LinkedIn
Digg
StumbleUpon
Forward
Google
Favorite
Favorite on Technorati