Highways firms unite behind RAISE roadworker abuse reporting platform

Major highways contractors and industry bodies are backing a shared reporting platform designed to build a clearer national picture of roadworker abuse and vehicle incursions.

The highways industry already knows that roadworker abuse happens. The harder question is whether it knows enough about where, when and how often it happens to do something useful about it.

That is the gap the No Excuse For Roadworker Abuse initiative is aiming to close through RAISE, a central platform into which contractors and supply-chain partners will feed incident data.

The campaign has now taken another step towards its formal launch, with industry representatives meeting at McCann Ltd’s training centre in Nottingham to agree its governance structure, select its Companies House directors and settle further details ahead of a hard launch this autumn.

In brief:

• The No Excuse For Roadworker Abuse initiative has agreed its governance structure and selected its Companies House directors.
• Major contractors and their supply chains are set to contribute roadworker abuse and incursion data to RAISE.
• The platform is intended to provide a free central source of sector-wide incident information.
• A hard launch is planned for this autumn, with the initiative due to appear at Strictly Highways and Highways UK.

Why the RAISE roadworker abuse platform matters

Abuse directed at roadworkers is easy to condemn and much harder to measure consistently.

An incident may be reported through a contractor’s internal system, raised with a client or recorded elsewhere depending on where it happened and who was involved. The result can be a collection of separate records that show individual events without necessarily giving the industry a clear view across the wider road network.

RAISE, the Roadworker Abuse and Incursion Safety Exchange, is intended to bring more of that information into one place. Developed by members of the Traffic Management Contractors Association, the platform provides a structured way for organisations to report incidents and share data.

The practical value lies in aggregation. One report describes one event. A large body of consistently recorded reports can begin to show patterns: where abuse or vehicle incursions happen repeatedly, whether particular types of works appear more exposed, and where clients and contractors may need to review planning or protection.

That is the “so what?” behind the meeting in Nottingham. Agreeing directors and governance arrangements may sound administrative, but a shared industry platform needs more than general support. It needs clear ownership, an agreed structure and confidence among contributors that the information they submit will be handled and used properly.

Contractors put rivalries aside over roadworker safety

The range of organisations involved is significant.

According to the announcement, Kier Infrastructure, Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Galliford Try, FM Conway and Costain are among the contractors expected to collaborate by feeding abuse and incursion data into RAISE alongside their supply-chain partners.

The wider initiative has also attracted engagement from National Highways and organisations including the Traffic Management Contractors Association, Road Surface Treatments Association, Road Safety Markings Association, Local Council Roads Innovation Group, CECA, HAUC(UK) and the Institute of Highway Engineers.

For an industry accustomed to competing for frameworks, contracts and packages of work, the willingness to share information is an important part of the story. Roadworker abuse and incursions are not risks confined neatly within company boundaries. The same workforce can move between contractors, clients and networks, while similar problems may appear at roadworks delivered under entirely different arrangements.

Keeping every organisation’s information separate limits the picture. Pooling it could give the sector a stronger evidence base from which to identify recurring risks and press for practical changes.

That does not mean a database will stop abuse by itself. The value of RAISE will depend on how widely it is used, how consistently incidents are recorded and what the industry does with the findings. Incomplete or uneven reporting would leave familiar blind spots in place.

But the principle is straightforward: the sector is better placed to manage a problem when it can see its scale and distribution.

Shared incursion data could improve roadworks planning

Roadworker abuse and vehicle incursions are related but distinct problems.

Abuse may involve the verbal, threatening or physical behaviour faced by people working on the network. An incursion occurs when a vehicle enters a roadworks area or otherwise breaches the traffic-management arrangements intended to separate the public from the workforce.

Both can place operatives at risk, and both can reveal something about how road users interact with temporary traffic management.

A central incident repository could therefore have uses beyond recording what has already happened. If sufficient data reveals recurring hotspots or common circumstances, it could help inform the planning of future works, the design of traffic-management layouts and decisions about where additional controls or communication may be required.

It may also give highways authorities and contractors better evidence when discussing workforce protection with clients, policymakers and the public. Anecdotal accounts can show that a problem exists. Consistent sector-wide information is more useful when the conversation turns to its scale, causes and possible responses.

RAISE is intended to be free for members and contributors to input and retrieve industry incident information. The initiative describes it as the UK’s only central repository dedicated to this kind of abuse and incursion data.

Roadworker abuse campaign prepares for autumn launch

The Nottingham meeting was hosted by No Excuse For Roadworker Abuse chair Paula Parsons and vice-chair Andy Murray.

Alongside confirming the initiative’s governance arrangements and directors, those attending discussed the detail of its planned hard launch this autumn. The campaign is expected to appear at LCRIG’s Strictly Highways event and at a larger launch event during Highways UK.

That next stage will matter because the usefulness of any shared reporting system grows with participation. A platform supported by a handful of firms can provide examples. One used across Tier One contractors, traffic-management businesses, specialist associations, clients and supply chains has a better chance of showing what is happening across different parts of the network.

The immediate announcement is about governance and collaboration. The longer-term test will be whether RAISE turns those commitments into regular reporting and whether the resulting information leads to discernible changes on site.

Roadworkers do not need another statement explaining that abuse is unacceptable. The more useful outcome would be a body of evidence strong enough to show where the risk is concentrated and help the industry decide what to do next.