Personal Road Safety
- Ensures road crews work safely
- Adopts best practice from railways
- Praised by the Highways Agency
Serco employees are now better prepared than ever before for working on roads and motorways. Those engaged on contracts to maintain CCTV cameras, roadside electronic messaging signs and communication equipment have undertaken a course proving their competency to work safely in this high-risk environment. It is an approach that exceeds contractual and legal requirements.
A best practice review of Serco's road and rail operations highlighted that while there is a legal requirement for rail industry personnel to attend a safety certification course before working trackside, there is no equivalent for road workers.
The new Personal Road Safety course teaches employees how to minimise risk when preparing for work, getting to the work site, carrying out the work, and leaving the site. They are then assessed on-site and given a handbook detailing what they have learned.
"This shows how we are proactive in the way we adopt best practice across our transport operations," says Donald Scott, Assurance Manager for Serco Transport Special Projects. "If we find a gap we address it."
The handbook has received strong endorsement from the Highways Agency: "This is a very good example of how best to get the message of personal safety over to a wide audience," said the Agency's Traffic Technology Team Leader Hugh Maxwell.