London’s Transport Commissioner Sir Peter Hendy CBE has praised a programme designed to ensure that a road safety culture is embedded across the construction industry.
He has welcomed the commitment by chief executives and senior managers of leading construction firms to become the first ‘CLOCS Champions’ – taking a leading role in helping to reduce collisions between trucks and vulnerable road users.
The Construction Logistics and Cycle Safety (CLOCS) programme brings together developers, construction companies, operators, vehicle manufacturers and regulatory bodies. By working together, the programme is helping to protect pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists and other road users who share the roads with construction vehicles.
Construction companies have a significant role in promoting road safety throughout their logistics operations. Transport for London (TfL) and Crossrail have already demonstrated how this can be effectively managed through specified road safety clauses in their procurement contracts. This means that all drivers working on their projects must have undergone extensive cycle safety training and all vehicles must be equipped with blind-spot mirrors, side bars and other safety equipment. Work is also underway with truck manufacturers to help design and build new safer trucks that will have better direct vision to the front and side which will protect vulnerable road users.
Many of the companies invited to be CLOCS champions played a major role in developing a national Standard for construction logistics: Managing Work related road risk – the CLOCS standard. The CLOCS Standard is the first national standard designed to help reduce collisions between trucks and all vulnerable road users such as cyclists, pedestrians and motorcyclists.
The CLOCS Champions have agreed to promote the Standard throughout their own fleets, if they have them, and throughout their supply chains. By ensuring that their suppliers conform to the standard, safety improvements will be cascaded through the construction industry.
Sir Peter Hendy CBE (pictured), Commissioner, Transport for London, said: “Road safety is one of our top priorities as we work towards a 40% reduction in, and ultimately the eradication of all, death and serious injury from roads.
“When a developer adopts these standards, trucks delivering to their sites will have to meet rigorous safety standards and more than 60 organisations, including many of the UK’s leading developers and construction firms, now fully support the CLOCS programme. This hugely important work will help improve safety standards and reduce the number of collisions between trucks and vulnerable road users.”
