Survey Road safety

while 17% were public sector and 4% were private sector clients. However, our sample was less London-

centric than you might expect. With some exceptions, cyclist versus construction vehicle accidents have been largely a London issue, as has the response. Crossrail put the issue centre stage by adopting a “FORS plus” safety standard for all suppliers to its sites, while last year, TfL rallied clients and main contractors around its new CLOCS standard. But respondents were drawn fairly evenly from all over the UK — 19% were in London, 15% in the midlands, 17% in the south east and 12% in the south west. The fi rst stand-out fi nding was that the

industry was judged sluggish in its response to the grim catalogue of HGV- related cyclist deaths. Only 19% thought the industry had “taken a strong lead”, and 42% thought that it had been slow to react and could do more. Clearly, in respondents’ view, the industry at large — including its trade associations, professional institutions and indeed media — has been complacent. CLOCS, the most high-profi le industry

response, has its origins in a Transport for London summit, although it’s now considered an “industry-owned” scheme. Seven of the UK’s top construction companies are CLOCS Champions addressing road safety issues through their supply chains — namely Laing O’Rourke, Skanska, Costain, Carillion, Vinci, Lend Lease and survey sponsor partner Mace. However, the response to the survey question perhaps refl ects CLOCS’ complex history and dual “ownership”. Meanwhile, CLOCS champion SIG

Distribution hopes to encourage other industry organisations to do more to raise awareness. Logistics fl eet manager Stephen Martin said: ”As a leading distributor of specialist materials, health and safety has always been top of SIG’s agenda. We believe the way forward is a two-pronged attack — investing in the safety features of our vehicles and driver training, and educating the public. We’ve been attending a lot of public events with our ‘Exchanging Places’ programme, which gives people the chance to sit in the cab of an SIG lorry so they can see the road from the driver’s point of view.” In the survey, 31% of respondents said their personal knowledge of Work-Related Road Risk (WRRR) had “increased

Client (private sector) 4.41%

Haulage provider 0.6%

Logistics provider 0.9%

Other consultancy (design or surveying) 19.4%

Project manager 7.7%

Which type of organisation do you mainly work for?

Client (public sector) 16.2%

SME contractor up to £20m turnover 10%

Medium-sized contractor £20m-£200m 14.8%

Large contractor over £200m turnover 24.7%

The 371 respondents represented a good cross-section of the construction industry, with the largest block coming from the companies with the largest fl eets (24.7% were employed by large contractors over £200m) and a good response from 55 public sector clients (16.2%). However, the survey attracted relatively little response from product manufacturers, logistics providers or haulage contractors. In terms of job roles, 71.6% described themselves as construction, project or site managers, 14% were health and safety managers, and 7% were operations managers.

In the past fi ve years would you say that your personal knowledge and awareness of work- related road risk (WRRR) has:

Not sure 8.3%

Increased considerably 30.7%

Stayed about the same 25.2%

Increased slightly 35.9%

Asked about personal awareness of road safety in construction, around two-thirds said it had increased considerably or slightly in recent years. Among health and safety managers and operations managers, those fi gures were slightly higher — in both cases just 15% said awareness had not improved. But in London, the fi gures were slightly different to the overall average: 38% said awareness had increased considerably, 29% said it had increased slightly, and 24% said it had stayed the same.

How has the construction industry and its clients responded to WRRR issues in the supply chain?

100

80 90

%

10 20 30 40 50 60 70

> 0 CONSTRUCTION MANAGER | SEPTEMBER 2014 | 25

It's been slow to react and should be doing far more to reduce road risks

It's taken moderate action but could go further

The respondents characterised the industry’s response to the issue as lacking in conviction. In London, home to Crossrail-backed FORS and the new CLOCS scheme, respondents rated the industry’s response slightly more positively: 25.7% said it had taken a strong lead (18.6% nationally), 44% said it had taken moderate action but could go further (40% nationally), while 30% said it had been slow to react and urged more action (42%).

It's taken a strong lead on improving safety standards in the industry

Photograph: © EYESITE / Alamy