The industry is failing in its responsibilities to make our roads safer for cyclists and pedestrians, according to one of the key findings in CM’s exclusive online survey of industry opinion on road risk and cyclist safety.
But the survey also reveals that two new safety standards directed at the industry – the Fleet Operators Recognition Scheme (FORS) and the Construction Logistics and Cycle Safety initiative (CLOCS) – are both struggling to gain recognition and uptake.
HGVs and buses were involved in 53% of the 82 cyclist fatalities in London between 2008 and 2013, despite accounting for only 3% of traffic on the road. In 2011, seven out of 11 cyclist fatalities involved HGVs linked to the construction sector.
The survey, sponsored by Mace, truck manufacturer DAF, products distributor SIG and the Road Haulage Association, sought to judge the industry’s reaction to the challenge these statistics represent and the continued increase in the number of cyclists on the road.
It drew 371 responses across the contracting and client community. The majority (72%) spoke from a site and project management perspective rather than logistics, transport or health and safety (15.5%) specialists. But they were nonetheless close to the issues: 52% from companies that directly operate a vehicle fleet, while 78% contracted with suppliers that operate fleets.
But of the 371 respondents, 42% believed the industry had been complacent in its response to the toll of accidents, agreeing with the statement that it had been “slow to react and should be doing far more to reduce road risks”.
Only 19% thought the industry had “taken a strong lead” and 40% thought that the industry had shown a “moderate” response but could go further.
When asked about their personal understanding of the issues around Work Related Road Risk, there was a slightly more positive picture. 31% of respondents said it had increased “considerably” in the last five years, while 36% said it had increased “slightly” and only 25% said their awareness had stayed about the same.
But these rising levels of awareness did not translate into support for the tough new voluntary vehicle and driver safety standards, FORS and CLOCS.
FORS was initiated by Transport for London and backed by Crossrail, while the more wide ranging CLOCS scheme – aimed at clients and Tier 1 contractors and designed to be implemented down the supply chain – is supported by Mace, Vinci, Skanska, Carillion, Lend Lease and Laing O’Rourke among a group of 40 CLOCS Champions.
Asked to rate their familiarity with the two schemes and a selection of other standards in the logistics sector, 65% and 62% respectively said they had no knowledge of FORS and CLOCS; just 25% and 30% said they had “some understanding” and only 10% and 7% claimed to have a “working knowledge”.
When asked which voluntary safety scheme they had adopted within their companies, 71% of the respondents who operated a fleet simply answered “none”. When clients/Tier 1 contractors were asked about mandating a scheme along their supply chains, again, 74% answered “none”.
At Mace, head of health and safety Andrew Brown acknowledged that there is work to be done on promoting CLOCS. “The CLOCS Standard was developed by representatives from all of the construction stakeholders for the industry to adopt as a common set of standards.
“While the development and introduction of CLOCS is a big step in the right direction, it is clear that as an industry we can continue to improve our implementation of the CLOCS standard. The industry now needs to fully embrace these new standards and ensure that they are applied. We need to work together towards wider adoption.”
For full details on the survey results, please click here
