The number of road workers being killed in the course of their work has risen to a new high for recent years, despite renewed efforts to improve their safety.
Health and Safety Executive statistics for fatal injuries in the workplace reveal that eight people were killed while maintaining Britain’s roads in 2005/06. This was up from five deaths the previous year, a toll that was itself the worst for five years, and described by road safety minister Dr Stephen Ladyman viewed as ‘an unacceptable upturn’.
Six of the accidents involved moving vehicles, and while information on the incidents was not available as Surveyor went to press, industry figures believe driver behaviour at road works remains the single biggest cause.
The deaths in 2004/05 prompted the intervention by ministers, a new ‘road safety action plan’ from the Highways Agency for 2006/07, and an Institution of Highways and Transportation panel to be set up to produce recommendations for local highway authorities and Whitehall.
IHT director of technical affairs, John Smart, described the latest HSE statistic as ‘disturbing’.
‘It’s disappointing that, despite all our best efforts, road crew fatalities have risen again.’ The main reason for the ‘vast majority’ of recent deaths was inappropriate driver behaviour. Road workers had noticed a fall in driving standards through works in recent years, contractors have reported.
While the industry could and should do more, ‘the travelling public has to be part of the solution’.
The figures, which make working on the roads one of the UK’s most dangerous jobs, come as the numbers killed at work fell to a new low of 212, a decrease of 5% compared with last year.
Construction site deaths plummeted by 14%, prompting Stephen Williams, HSE chief inspector for construction to say he was ‘pleased with the progress being made’. Six of the workers were killed on the HA’s network, and a spokesman said that while ‘working on construction sites close to high-speed traffic is, by its very nature, hazardous’, the HA was working to improve the safety of workers.
As well as educating drivers of the need to slow down through works, it was focusing on using new technology to reduce the need for road workers to enter the carriageway, or better protecting those who have to.
But Smart cautioned there was only so much that could be done to reduce road worker exposure without closing roads for works, and automated traffic management was unlikely to be appropriate on the local road network. ‘We need to change attitudes,’ he said. While drivers might feel they were being held up unnecessarily, ‘most people wouldn’t like somebody driving at them at 70mph while they’re sitting at their desk at work’.