Page:UK Traffic Signs Manual - Chapter 8 - Part 2- Traffic Safety Measures and Signs for Road Works and Temporary Situations) - Operations 2009.pdf/13



The complexity of traffic management arrangements varies from scheme to scheme, but the primary objective is always to maximise the safety of the workforce and the travelling public.

The live carriageway of any road is a dangerous working environment in which to work. In particular, during the periods when traffic management arrangements are being set up, changed, maintained or removed, operatives may need to work on the live carriageway without the protection afforded by the fully installed layouts. It is therefore essential that temporary traffic management operations are designed, planned and implemented in accordance with a safe system of work.

Specific guidance relating to the health and safety aspects of the setting up, maintenance and removal of traffic management arrangements is given in "Guidance for Safer Temporary Traffic Management" published on behalf of the Highways Agency, the County Surveyors’ Society (CSS) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE); see References (Appendix 3).

Where works are in progress on a highway, or on any road to which the public have access, the Health and Safety at Work, etc. Act 1974 (or Health and Safety at Work Order (NI) Order 1978) requires those responsible for the works to establish and maintain, so far as is reasonably practicable, safe systems of work, including:
 * the provision and maintenance of plant and systems of work that are safe and without risks to health;
 * arrangements for ensuring the safety and absence of risks to health in connection with the use, handling, storage and transport of articles and substances;
 * the provision of such information, instruction, training and supervision as is necessary to ensure the health and safety at work of their employees;
 * the maintenance of any place of work under the employer’s control in a condition that is safe and without risks to health including the provision and maintenance of means of access to and egress from it that are safe and without such risks; and
 * the provision and maintenance of a working environment that is safe, without risks to health, and adequate as regards facilities and arrangements for their welfare at work.

Where works are in progress on a highway, the person, persons or organisation responsible for the works is under an obligation to any persons using the highway, i.e. vehicle users, cyclists, pedestrians and other users (e.g. horse riders), to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to protect them from personal injury and their property from damage. Therefore sufficient warning signs, barriers and other measures needed to highlight any danger should be placed at or near the site of the works to the extent necessary to discharge that obligation. These measures must be removed when no longer required. The Highway Authority has the ultimate responsibility for the administration of all work that affects its roads.

The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2007 and the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations (NI) 2007 place duties on clients, designers, co-ordinators and contractors to manage the risks which are under their control. The term "designer" within these regulations has a broad definition. Further guidance on the application of these regulations can be found in "Managing Health and Safety in Construction, Construction Design and Management Regulations 2007, Approved Code of Practice" HSE Legal Series publication L144. See References (Appendix 3). 11