Press Releases

Company failed surveyor killed by reversing lorry

Tuesday, 27 March 2012 10:38

A leading engineering and construction company has been fined £250,000 for safety failings after a surveyor was killed by a reversing lorry during work to widen the M25 near Dartford.

Richard Caddock, 38, from Bexleyheath, London, was talking on a mobile phone and could not hear the approaching truck above the noise of nearby motorway traffic, when he was hit from behind on 8 April 2008.

The Health and Safety Executive today prosecuted his employer Costain Limited for failing to ensure adequate precautions were in place to separate the movements of people and vehicles.

Maidstone Crown Court heard that Mr Caddock, of Bexleyheath, London, had left a parked van and was walking northbound along a section of the central reservation closed off as part of a £65 million scheme to ease congestion between junctions 1b to 3.

As he talked on the phone, a tipper lorry delivering crushed stone entered the same section and reversed northbound. Mr Craddock had walked approximately 30m when the truck hit him.

The surveyor sustained multiple injuries as a result of being run over by the eight wheel vehicle and was pronounced dead at the scene.

After the hearing HSE Inspector Melvyn Stancliffe said:

"This was a terrible tragedy that could easily have been avoided had Costain Limited implemented basic safety precautions.

"Mr Caddock may have been distracted on the phone, but the drone of nearby traffic was such that he would have struggled to hear the reversing alarm on the lorry regardless. Quite simply the two should never have been allowed to be in the same place at the same time.

"The movement of people and vehicles on construction sites requires careful planning and effective control. It must be considered a critical part of transport management. This case highlights that a failure to be in control can have devastating consequences."

Costain Limited, of Vanwall Business Park in Maidenhead, pleaded guilty to breaching 2(1) of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 in connection to the death. In addition to the £250,000 fine, the company was ordered to pay £45,000 in costs.

1. The Health and Safety Executive is Britain's national regulator for workplace health and safety. It aims to prevent death, injury and ill health. It does so through research, information and advice, promoting training, new or revised regulations and codes of practice, and working with local authority partners by inspection, investigation and enforcement. www.hse.gov.uk
2. Section 2(1) and of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 states: "It shall be the duty of every employer to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health, safety and welfare at work of all his employees."

LIGHTS OUT ON MOTORWAYS – ONLY IF WHITE LINES HIT THE MARK

Friday, 23 March 2012 12:49

The road marking industry has warned that plans to switch off motorways lights will only be acceptable if white lines are maintained to the highest standards.

The Highways Agency has announced that lighting on a 5-mile section of the M4 between junctions 20 and 22 and on the M48 at Aust will be permanently switched off to reduce carbon emissions. But the Road Safety Markings Association has warned that a recent a snapshot survey of nearly 500 miles of the UK road network found more than half of the road markings were barely visible and nearly a quarter were due for immediate replacement. Less than 7 per cent of road markings scored the highest rating.

RSMA national director, George Lee says: “We fully support any initiative that will save money safely, reduce carbon emissions, and maintain our dark skies, but we know that – in spite of a clear Highways Agency technical directive for the quality of road markings – white lines are falling into disrepair.

“Road markings are widely recognised to provide the best, most simple navigation aid to drivers and to be the most cost-effective road safety measure. In the absence of lighting, they must be clearly visible on the darkest, wettest night.”

LIGHTS OUT ON MOTORWAYS – ONLY IF WHITE LINES HIT THE MARK

Friday, 23 March 2012 12:49

The road marking industry has warned that plans to switch off motorways lights will only be acceptable if white lines are maintained to the highest standards.

The Highways Agency has announced that lighting on a 5-mile section of the M4 between junctions 20 and 22 and on the M48 at Aust will be permanently switched off to reduce carbon emissions. But the Road Safety Markings Association has warned that a recent a snapshot survey of nearly 500 miles of the UK road network found more than half of the road markings were barely visible and nearly a quarter were due for immediate replacement. Less than 7 per cent of road markings scored the highest rating.

RSMA national director, George Lee says: “We fully support any initiative that will save money safely, reduce carbon emissions, and maintain our dark skies, but we know that – in spite of a clear Highways Agency technical directive for the quality of road markings – white lines are falling into disrepair.

“Road markings are widely recognised to provide the best, most simple navigation aid to drivers and to be the most cost-effective road safety measure. In the absence of lighting, they must be clearly visible on the darkest, wettest night.”

POOR MARKS FOR UK’S WHITE LINES

Tuesday, 28 February 2012 09:59

The UK’s road markings are vanishing at an alarming rate, with well over half of white lines in Scotland and Wales almost non-existent, and England’s road markings faring little better.

A snapshot survey of nearly 500 miles shows that, on average, 50.6 percent of the UK’s road markings surveyed are barely visible. The proportion of roads falling into the "emergency repairs" bracket stands at 23 per cent; while less than 7 per cent of road markings score the highest rating.

By contrast, a survey carried out 12 months earlier on the UK’s 10 most dangerous roads showed that 23 percent of centre lines fell into the lowest category while 31 percent qualified for the highest rating.

The Road Safety Markings Association (RSMA) carried out the latest spot-check across a range of motorways and major A roads managed by the Highways Agency, and lesser A and B roads managed by local authorities.

RSMA national director George Lee says: "These findings are shocking. We could see a clear, direct correlation between deadly roads and deadly road markings when we examined the 10 most dangerous roads identified by the Road Safety Foundation.

"Now, just a simple cross-section of roads – arguably representative of the entire network – shows a level of deterioration that defies belief.

"We recognise that the UK is currently under huge financial pressure, but road markings are widely recognised to provide the best, most simple navigation aid to drivers, and to be the most cost-effective road safety measure and it is time we gave drivers the vital clues they need to use our roads."

The RSMA is advising Government on extending the rating standards used by the Highways Agency to cover local authority roads.

Read more: POOR MARKS FOR UK’S WHITE LINES

READY-SALTED ROADS KEEP POT-HOLES AT BAY

Tuesday, 07 February 2012 10:09

The UK’s highways engineers have prevented widespread structural damage to the road network by heading off the worst excesses of winter weather, according to the Institute of Highways Engineers (IHE).

A strategy of pre-salting roads to avoid serious damage from icing, and rapid action to address minor defects has significantly cut the number of potholes on roads this year.

“Salting is often interpreted purely as a road-use safety action, but adopted strategically as a maintenance measure – as it has been this winter by local authorities following the recommendations given in the Quarmby Report – has prevented the break-up of the underlying road structure,” says Richard Hayes, vice-president of the IHE, and area highways manager at Northumberland County Council. The Quarmby report has given better guidance on the use of salt following the last two winters.

“By steering road maintenance in this way, highways engineers have saved authorities the need for costly structural repairs.

“This prudence must be acknowledged, and local authorities must support engineers in investing their savings to return the road network to a state that is safe for all road users: replacing worn white lines and upgrading road surfaces.”

RSMA CALLS FOR HIGHWAYS AGENCY ACTION OVER LUMP SUM MAINTENANCE

Friday, 16 December 2011 11:18

The Road Safety Markings Association has called for action from the Highways Agency to address road safety concerns arising out of a stand-off between the agency and its managing agents over payments for road marking maintenance.

At a meeting with Department for Transport and Highways Agency officials, RSMA National Director George Lee said “We’ve had reports from member companies that significant road marking maintenance programmes are not taking place because of disputes between managing agents and the Highways Agency over how these programmes should be funded.”

Read more: RSMA CALLS FOR HIGHWAYS AGENCY ACTION OVER LUMP SUM MAINTENANCE