Highways Drone Services – How Drones are Grounding Dangerous MEWP Operations for Road Safety Week

As the UK marks Road Safety Week, attention often goes to protecting drivers and the public.

The numbers show the scale of risk. IPAF recorded 37 fatalities from falls from MEWP platforms on roads and highways in the past ten years. Strikes from passing vehicles caused 20 more fatalities. Overturns added another 3.

This is the environment that partners in Birmingham set out to change. Their work now provides a model for wider use.

The Birmingham project by Highways Drone Services, Kier, and Birmingham City Council, which received a Highly Commended at the recent HEA Awards, showed a safer and faster way to work. The goal was simple, reduce the time operatives spend at height and in live carriageways.

The two week trial delivered clear results.

Traditional MEWP method: An IPV, a MEWP, and a 3.5T dropside vehicle inspected 145 lighting columns, an average of 14.5 per day.

Drone method: A single light van and drone system inspected 751 lighting columns, an average of 75 per day.

The drone team delivered more than five times the output with far less exposure. When scaled to more than 9,000 columns, the gains became clear. Output increased by 350 percent. Crews saved 2,800 hours in live traffic. Network exposure fell by about 350 working days. Total cost fell by about 60 percent.

The drone method removed the main causes of MEWP related fatalities. There was no working at height. There was no platform to fall from. There was no large vehicle parked in a live lane.

Other councils are now following. In Reading, Milestone Infrastructure and HDS trialled drones to inspect high mast lighting to avoid complex traffic management, closures, and large lift platforms. Newcastle, Sunderland, and Lincolnshire have also adopted drones for different inspection tasks. Each reports faster work, safer crews, and reduced reliance on costly scaffolding or MEWPs.

This shift is also reshaping the workforce. Professional drone operations follow strict rules. All pilots must comply with Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) requirements and hold valid Flyer and Operator IDs. National Highways has its own standards, such as GG 954, which sets out detailed steps for safe flight on the network. New 2026 CAA rules will introduce Direct Remote ID for all professional drones, raising accountability and ensuring only qualified operators work on critical sites.

The results from the Birmingham project show a clear direction of travel. The model is safer for workers, faster for councils, and better for the environment, removing about 9,000 kg of CO2 from the process. Saving 1 kg of CO2 per column over 9,000 columns equals 9 tonnes. That matches the emissions from driving a diesel car about 35,000 to 45,000 km. It equals burning about 3,500 litres of diesel. It also matches the yearly CO2 output of two average UK homes from electricity use.

As Marc Hobbins, Founder of Highways Drone Services, said, the data shows the impact. More inspections, less exposure, lower cost, and a cleaner process.

This Road Safety Week, the most significant safety gain comes from the method that removes the worker from the road entirely.

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