National Highways has built a bespoke classroom in Birmingham to help staff safely experience heavy plant operation away from a working site.

Working in partnership with supply chain partners Bam Nuttall and Flannery Plant Hire, the government body brought the challenges posed by construction sites to an off-site space by way of a model site.

The classroom is part of a new health and safety initiative designed to offer realistic training to give project managers more confidence and knowledge when going out on site.

Step up for Safety, the name of the initiative, took place last week with around 50 National Highways staff from the RIP Midlands project taking part.

The event was delivered at Flannery’s Operator Skills Hub where staff were able to use virtual reality simulators to get a feel of operating heavy plant and to learn about the interior controls.

National Highways programme manager Jon Slemmonds said: “For people new to the construction industry and not familiar with heavy plant, it can look quite complicated and dangerous.

“This course gives our staff the know-how they need to stay safe in a live environment but also the confidence to manage projects on site and challenge processes if need be.

“It is also of benefit to experienced staff who have been able to refresh existing knowledge and gain new skills, observing best practice which they can now take back to their teams”.

National Highways has said this training initiative is the first of its kind delivered in the Midlands region and it is hoped it will serve as a template for similar initiatives in other National Highways regions.

National Highways was able to simulate using heavy machinery in a site setting

Heavy plant equipment was also on site to demonstrate examples of "zonal working" and those on the course were able to play out different scenarios commonly encountered on construction sites.

During the training, Bam Nuttall shared details of their zonal working standard which aims to keep people safe by separating sites into different "zones", some only being accessible to authorised personnel.

Bam highways director Doug Mills said: “One of the main hazards we face as an industry is within plant person interface. Bam Nuttall have successfully implemented a zonal working standard across our sites and within our transport division.

“This collaborative event and involvement from both Flannery’s and National Highways sets the safety bar at a high standard. I believe this has the potential to become an effective standardised approach across the whole of the strategic road network and will make all sites involved with heavy plant and machinery as safe as possible.”

The interface between people and heavy plant equipment which is in use remains one of the main hazards on construction sites.

In addition, buried services detection awareness and familiarisation training was delivered by in-house specialists from Flannery.

Flannery Plant Hire head of skills and training Aaron Davies said: “The Operator Skills Hub is proud to be hosting a delegation from the National Highways Midlands region for an interactive workshop consisting of stands ranging from machine control, vacuum excavator capability through to zonal working amongst others.

“This has allowed participants to ask questions and get hands on with the various innovations presented ensuring an understanding of the process for selecting and practically applying a host of solutions whilst aware of the considerations each one brings.

“Industry really wins at all levels when colleagues can collaborate and share ideas as critical friends.”

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Tagged with: BAM Nuttall Construction National Highways

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