23 April 2013

A-one+, a joint venture between Costain, Colas and Halcrow, recently hosted a Media Day to showcase a number of road safety initiatives in MAC Area 14 in the north east of England.

The Regional Roadworker Safety Event took place in Swalwell, Gateshead and was attended by the media, designers and operatives from A-one+ as well as the Highways Agency’s Chief Executive, Graham Dalton and Highways Agency’s Regional Director, Vanessa Gilbert.

The day was organised to show how road maintenance work is undertaken in the north east, the dangers that exist in a highways environment and how those dangers can be reduced by implementing innovative and cost effective solutions.

Some of the innovations on show included:

Intellicone
An award winning, low cost technology that turns ordinary traffic cones into an intelligent wireless network that can activate an alarm and report any perimeter breaches from an oncoming vehicle.

The Simplified Traffic Management system
This reduces the number of signs set out in advance of a lane closure, with High Level Signs (HLS) displaying ‘Lane Closed Ahead’ signs on vehicles using high level LED displays. The initiative was devised in conjunction with the Transport Research Laboratory (TRL) as part of the Highways Agency’s “Aiming for Zero” strategy.

The Intelligent TM Crash Cushion
This records what is happening behind a team of road workers and can sound an alarm to warn the operatives and the approaching vehicle of an imminent collision.

The effectiveness of these initiatives can be seen in the contribution they have made to Area 14’s exemplary safety record. The A-one+ team has achieved one million man-hours without a reportable accident and 750,000 man hours , or 9 out of 12 rolling months, without any accident taking place.

Costain’s Karen Gaunt, the Customer and Community Relations Manager on the scheme, said: “This was a fantastic opportunity for the media to meet some of our staff and to see some of the innovations we have implemented to improve road safety.”

A-one+ is the MAC Contractor for the Highways Agency in Areas 7, 12 and 14, maintaining the trunk roads and motorway from Scotland down to Oxford, or roughly 25% of the national network. Area 14 includes Durham, Northumberland, North Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear.

To view a clip that was aired on ITV, please click on the link below:

http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2013-01-25/danger-for-road-workers/

 

Ends