A construction manager working on the M4 upgrade programme came to the aid of a lorry driver involved in a serious road accident.
Chris McHutchison, who is the Cleveland Bridge construction manager
responsible for installing 11 bridges along 32 miles of the M4 between London
and Reading, was first on the scene when a lorry crashed into the rear of an
articulated lorry that had broken down underneath one of the motorway’s existing
bridges.
McHutchison gave first aid to the driver of the second lorry
and remained with the driver until the emergency services arrived shortly
afterwards, including a surgical team with the Thames Valley Air Ambulance.
This is not a paywall. Registration allows us to enhance your experience across Construction Management and ensure we deliver you quality editorial content.
Registering also means you can manage your own CPDs, comments, newsletter sign-ups and privacy settings.
He also directed other road users and personnel working on
the site to rig up lighting to better illuminate the accident site, make
necessary calls to emergency services and maintain the scene until further help
arrived.
Following the incident, he returned to his duties and led
the Cleveland Bridge team to complete the installation of one of the new
bridges ahead of programme.
McHutchison said: “I initially got in touch with our
management team to let them know there would be a delay to the works while the
first lorry was recovered from under the bridge, but 20 minutes later the
second vehicle smashed into the artic. My instincts kicked in and I
rushed straight over to see if I could help.
“It was a very traumatic scene, but I knew I needed to stay calm and help out the injured driver until the emergency services arrived. I also want to thank everyone else at the scene who helped and for the speedy response of the emergency services.”
Chris Droogan, managing director of Cleveland Bridge, said:
“Throughout this traumatic event Chris showed the highest levels of
professionalism and courage. We are extremely proud of him and his
actions to not only stay calm enough to give his attention to the injured
driver, but also to take control of the situation until paramedics
arrived. Chris is a credit to Cleveland Bridge and represents the true
values of the people we have in our business.”
