News Archive
Connecting minds on highway safety
- Tuesday November 19, 2024
The IHE Southern Branch’s longstanding annual seminar was held at Beechdown Park in Basingstoke in October. The theme was ‘The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Side of Highway Safety’.
The event was opened by branch chair Sam Winterson, with the day being chaired by branch vice chair Tony Suter and IHE President Katharine Kelly.
The first speaker was Highways’ own Dominic Browne, who spoke about health and safety and the duty of care. He got everyone thinking while highlighting some key points such as culture, centralisation, creativity and conflict. This helped set the tone for the day as an engaging and informative event.
Next up was Chris Davies from Chevron Traffic Management, who spoke about the importance of quality temporary traffic management. Having worked in the industry for many years, Mr Davies was able to show why we must set up a site correctly to help provide the best experience for both the public and the workforce.
Then Kevin Robinson from Stamp it Out and Richard Hemingway from Milestone discussed the Stamp it Out campaign and Milestone’s Road Safety Worker Group.
Both speakers encouraged the audience to work together to ensure that we eliminate abuse to the workforce whether through effective scheme design and planning or communication and implementation.
After lunch, Ian McDonald and Kealie Franklin from ARTSM spoke about passive safety from a technical perspective. The informative talk touched on the latest standards and showed the benefits of how having the correct specification can help ensure the right product is chosen for a scheme, leading to safer end results.
Hayley Terrell from Highway Care discussed automation in traffic management with its Falcon Automated Cone Laying Machine and award-winning SwiftGate taper system. Ms Terrell showed how crucial innovation is to developing better working methods.
Matt Smith from Surrey County Council managed to engage the audience for the final slot by putting their road safety audit skills to the test. He showed photos from various audits and asked the audience to spot the issue. While some were more obvious than others, it was clear to see the value of experience and the need for effective auditing.
The day was enjoyed by all and the IHE Southern Branch team are already looking forward to hosting next year’s event.