Crossrail is insisting that HGVs delivering to its sites meet strict safety standards – and its initiative could have a beneficial impact on the construction industry in general. Amanda Birch reports.
The long-term impact of Crossrail when it opens in 2018 is increased rail travel and an anticipated reduction in the amount of traffic in London. But short term, the sheer scale of Crossrail means that there is on average an additional 400 to 450 mainly heavy goods vehicles each day in London. Given that London HGVs were involved in 9 out of 16 cyclist deaths in 2011 Crossrail has implemented lorry requirements to improve cycle and pedestrian safety.
The Cyclist Touring Club and the London Cycling Campaign petitioned for HGVs working on the project to be fitted with non-standard safety devices such as blind spot proximity sensors, which alert the driver visually and audibly that there is a cyclist on the left inside space, side under-run guards designed to prevent cyclists from coming into contact with the vehicle’s wheels, and warning alerts for cyclists and pedestrians. HGVs that do not meet these standards are turned away from Crossrail work sites and the contractor is liable for any costs incurred.
Crossrail also funds a mandatory training programme for all drivers of vehicles above 3.5 tonnes working on the Crossrail sites. There is already a legal requirement for HGV drivers to have an operator’s licence, but the Crossrail course is an extra qualification that is designed to, among other things, assist with cycle awareness when driving.
Since the course was introduced in November 2009, 3,700 drivers have been trained and according to Michael Hedwan, driving training manager at Crossrail, Crossrail’s strict safety requirements on HGVs may have had an impact on other construction firms’ fleet management operations. “The course represents a significant upskilling of the transport sector in its own right. We like to think that what we’ve achieved has had a ripple effect and is being looked at by other organisations and is making the construction industry a safer activity,” says Hedwan.
The evidence suggests that is already happening. Kier is working on Crossrail as part of the Team BFK — BAM Nuttall, Ferrovial and Kier. Stewart Lightbody, general manager of Kier’s fleet business, says that even though Kier isn’t operating any of its own commercial vehicles on the Crossrail sites, the company still signed up for the Fleet Operator Recognition Scheme (FORS), a voluntary certification scheme aimed at ensuring fleet operators in London work lawfully and to best practice. FORS was set up by Transport for London, in conjunction with the HSE, Metropolitan Police and others. Contractors appointed to all new TfL contracts must comply.
Away from Crossrail, Lightbody says Kier is focusing its attention on its own van drivers and carrying out risk assessments, mainly because the van industry isn’t as well regulated as the HGV industry. “More people get killed driving to and from work than they do whilst working on site and we are managing that risk,” says Lightbody. “We are operating a management occupational road risk procedure, which is all about understanding our drivers and their driving habits. We are training them and raising the standard of our drivers and as part of that training we are also covering cyclist and pedestrian safety, which I think most operator companies are doing.”
At Carillion, currently delivering the Paddington Integrated Project in preparation for Crossrail, fleet management operations manager Doug Randell, says the contractor has recently launched an initiative called “Vehicle as a safe workplace”. This involves ensuring the specification of Carillion’s fleet of 3,500 commercial vehicles is fit for purpose and includes checking that reversing cameras are fitted on vans and HGVs to prevent drivers from hitting pedestrians, and ensuring puddle lights are fitted on the rear and side of vehicles for the safety of the operator when unloading materials at night.
Manufacturers too are taking note of the higher safety standards driven by Crossrail, but Martin Flach, product director at Iveco UK, believes that the ripple effect Hedwan describes will be a slow process. “The construction industry is more willing to specify and pay for safety features as there is greater focus on safety in the workplace,” he says. “Projects like Crossrail, which enforce a safe site environment, have the power to influence other companies to adopt safety measures on vehicles. But until they become a legal requirement people generally don’t value safety and are unwilling to pay for the extras.”
Crossrail, however, hopes that attitudes are changing faster than Flach suggests. “The high safety standards in place at Crossrail has led to a responsible procurement approach and has now been embedded into our contracts,” says Hedwan. Given that a cyclist hit by an HGV is statistically speaking 78 times more likely to be killed compared to being hit by a car, let’s hope they’re right.
Getting active on safety
Reflecting the increasing demand from the construction industry for better safety features on vans and HGVs, manufacturers are introducing a range of features on their vehicles. The emphasis is on “active” vehicle safety development, which involves complex electronic systems that can help prevent an accident happening in the first place. Van and HGV manufacturers such as Ford, Iveco and Mercedes Benz are now offering Electronic Stability Programme (ESP) technology, which detects loss of control, for example in a bend taken too fast, and assists drivers in regaining control.
Mercedes Benz has gone a step further with Adaptive ESP in its vans, which automatically measures the van’s load condition and adapts continually. Mercedes Benz has also introduced wing mirror mounted reversing lights (pictured above). As drivers will often use wing mirrors when reversing when their rear view is blocked, these lights can help prevent costly damage to the vehicle or accidents involving pedestrians. Next year Mercedes Benz will launch a new Sprinter van featuring sensors to detect wind forces on the side of the van and make compensations for the driver.
Most leading van and HGV manufacturers also offer lane departure warning systems, which use a camera to monitor the vehicle’s position relative to the road markings. In Ford’s Transit van, the steering wheel begins to vibrate and alerts the driver that the van is drifting into another lane. The system will display a warning message on the dashboard together with an audible chime and if there is no change in the driver’s performance a permanent warning is shown which the driver must acknowledge by pressing an OK button.
