Sean McGrae, senior national transport manager at Lafarge Tarmac, on why construction must focus on improved design and a national standard for fleet safety.
Continually improving safety management has been a hallmark of construction’s modernisation over the past two decades. The application of standards, the measures taken to mitigate risks, and the scrutiny placed on processes has been crucial – and will continue to be so as the industry looks to become ever safer and to grow, attract talent and develop skills.
But there remains a dangerous blind spot for this governing activity that goes beyond the site hoardings, most notably for vehicle movements. It’s an uncomfortable truth that a disproportionate number of accidents involving vulnerable road users – cyclists, pedestrians, and other non-vehicular traffic – involve an HGV, many of which are delivering to construction sites. In 2011, for example, Transport for London (TfL) reported that, of 16 fatal accidents involving cyclists, nine were caused by HGVs, seven of which were delivering to construction sites.
There is a growing and welcome effort from government and industry to deliver safer vehicles, and ensure that drivers are better equipped to operate on roads that are increasingly being used by cyclists.
One approach has been to change the design of vehicles – with an increasing focus on HGVs with cabs that have better nearside sight lines. The nearside of the vehicle is the most frequent blind spot and perhaps the most well-known cause of accidents. The blind spot prevents drivers from detecting cyclists coming up the inside as vehicles turn left. It’s a defect that has all too often caused injuries, and fatalities.
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Improved design can also give better visibility for the area directly in front of a vehicle’s cab – where cyclists and pedestrians often cross when it’s parked, or waiting at traffic lights – or at the rear of the vehicle to prevent collisions as it reverses.
Lorry designs have barely changed for over 50 years, and we’re right to reassess their practicality. The increased vehicle numbers, the sheer proximity of the traffic – not to mention the higher numbers of cyclists – all show that what was fit for purpose 50 years ago is not as appropriate today.
Changing legislation is ensuring that this much-needed development takes place. On 15 April, the EU approved measures to make cycle-safe cab designs mandatory for new vehicles. This is an important step that will undoubtedly make fleets safer by increasing drivers’ awareness of the road around them and the people that share it. The next step is for the proposal to go back to national governments for approval before becoming law, and it’s important that we support its safe passage through Parliament in the UK.
Acting now
But design measures offer a long-term transition – rather than the immediate behavioural changes and improvements that we believe are crucial. Fleet renewals take place gradually, and the most important, expedient adaptations lie in better driver training, single standards, and in coordinated retrofit programmes for existing vehicles.
There is concerted industry action to taking a holistic approach to making vehicles safer. Later this year, HGVs without critical cycle-safe features will be banned from the streets of London. This recent announcement by TfL and the London Councils is a hardening of the previously-announced policy, which would have seen £200 fines for every offending vehicle.
"The next step for the industry must be to put in place a standard that works on a national level. Our current approach is parochial, and there are currently more than 10 known safety standards."
Behind the legislation, industry initiatives are emerging to provide standards against which companies can adapt their vehicles. In late 2013, the Construction Logistics and Cyclist Safety Standard (CLOCS) was launched by a cross industry working group – made up of primary contractors, clients, fleet operators and trade associations – to ensure a consistent specification for cycle-safe features on HGVs, such as sensors or cameras to spot cyclists when they would otherwise be undetected.
CLOCS has been adopted in London and, as well as fleet adaptation, it aims to change driver behaviours by ensuring that drivers are given progressive training. All of these factors are crucial to delivering decisive, short-term improvements to the safety of fleets, and ensuring that construction work does not directly or indirectly contribute to injuries and fatalities on our roads.
Safety as standard
The next step for the industry must be to put in place a standard that works on a national level. Our current approach is parochial, and there are currently more than 10 known safety standards. These range from the TfL-endorsed Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS), to the MPA Standard and the Crossrail Standard. Others are essentially a hybrid of these schemes.
These are doubtless the product of a genuine desire from the industry to tackle cycle safety. However, they also betray a fragmented approach that not only hinders our ability to present a united front, but that is also impractical to implement.
We believe that CLOCS, which incorporates FORS, could and should be extended across the UK as a ready-made standard that can deliver immediate benefits to protect vulnerable road users. Working across our supply chains will be key in ensuring that safety on the road is as keenly managed as safety on our own sites.
Both long and short-term improvements are critical, and the EU’s stance on design shows a clear and valuable political will for change, echoed by the support for retrofit and training we have fostered on a national level. Ultimately, design changes are slow but needed. Retrofit and training are immediate and deliverable. Combined, they add up to even safer roads for all users. It’s an issue we should all be championing, and construction must take up the mantle for safer conditions for every single road user.
