More than one in 10 local authority road works have 'serious non-compliance' with the code of practice, the Scottish road works commissioner has revealed.
Speaking at the Road Expo conference and exhibition, Kevin Hamilton discussed his team's new powers, which came in on 1 April this year, to inspect road works and issue legally-binding 'compliance notices' demanding improvements.
In the first six months, the team observed 1,200 sites in the devolved nation and found 396 had some level of non-compliance and 140 had serious non-compliance issues, more than half of which related to failure to provide pedestrian facilities (56%).
The powers came in through provisions in the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019. Mr Hamilton and other 'authorised persons' can physically inspect road works sites for compliance with the New Roads and Street Works Act and by extension the mandatory code of practice Safety at Street Works and Road Works.
As Highways previously revealed, this 2013 guidance, also referred to as the Red Book, is currently under review – a new version is expected soon.
As there were 160,000 road works registered in Scotland last financial year and Mr Hamilton only has two dedicated staff, he has devised a system of driven expectations taking footage with a dashcam to help maximise coverage.
‘In our first year of operation, our priority was to scrutinise road authority signing, lighting and guarding. During some initial pilot work, I found road authorities were often falling short of the standards required by the code of practice.
‘If I am being honest, I think there has probably been a level of complacency and hopefully just by raising this scrutiny, organisations will start looking into their own practices and their own auditing and inspection standards and that will help raise standards.’
Those issued with a ‘compliance notice’ detailing required actions and improvements are legally required to respond, although roads authorities and undertakers have 21 days to appeal.
An appeal to the Sheriff 'stops the clock'. They can then decide to uphold the notice, cancel it or make modifications.
If a valid compliance notice is not followed in the most extreme cases it can lead to a £100,000 fine.
Only two compliance notices have been issued so far, both for repeated and systematic failures.
Mr Hamilton revealed that there is also a plan 'to introduce a fixed penalty regime' giving the commissioner potentially additional powers to make the system simpler and more efficient.
One Road Expo delegate asked about situations where there was apparently no safe diversion route for pedestrians and sites could seemingly not be made safe. They suggested not enough advice was being given to authorities.
Mr Hamilton responded: ‘No one has been penalised for an edge case. They are so few and far between and if it arises and we observe a non-compliance, we would have a discussion with the roads authorities. These edge cases are not what is driving the issue. The edge cases are being used as an excuse.’
An IHE source advised using timed works amnesties in difficult locations, providing scheduled breaks where the public could walk through works on boards.
