Kier reaches safety milestone on smart motorways schemes

Two Kier Highways all lane running smart motorway projects have worked over one million hours without a reportable injury.

The schemes at the M20 Junctions 3-5 in the South-East and the M6 Junctions 13-15 in the Midlands both achieved the significant milestone within weeks of each other

Kier attributed the parallel success stories to hosting successful engagement sessions and the commitment and dedication from all staff on both sites.

The team on the M20 project has worked 870,000 hours without any lost time injuries since the project started in May 2018. In this time, 1,996 people have been inducted and there are currently 250 operatives working on site. The Accident Frequency Rate (AFR) remains at zero at this site.

Steve Crofts, Kier Highways head of safety, health and environment, said: ‘Such impressive health and safety performance reminds us that, when we all work together and focus on health & safety without compromising, it is possible to ensure everyone goes home safe and well every day.

‘Engagement with workforce and supply chain is key to understanding the culture that exists and ensuring everybody understands and lives by the mantra that nothing is so important that it cannot be done safely.’

Kier said the M6 project carried out several collaborative health and safety initiatives ‘focusing on the most important choice people make each day – the choice to work safely’.

The sessions were well attended and covered a variety of topics, including safety in design, choosing to be resilient in changing situations and stroke awareness.

Following the two weeks of presentations the health and safety team managed four stand-down days, where all operations stop for a day of briefings and team building, this covered over 200 operatives and site-based personnel.