OPERATIONS CONTRACT MANAGEMENT MEMO CMM … · OPERATIONS CONTRACT MANAGEMENT MEMO CMM xx/16 SUBJECT: CARRIAGEWAY CROSSING AND LIVE LANE WORKING - CLARIFICATION Date Issued: (to be

OPERATIONS CONTRACT MANAGEMENT MEMO CMM xx/16

SUBJECT: CARRIAGEWAY CROSSING AND LIVE LANE WORKING -

CLARIFICATION

Date Issued: (to be inserted by Operations Central, Directorate Services Team)

Enquiry contact(s): Andy Chan Operations Central Performance Reporting The Cube 199 Wharfside Street Birmingham B1 1RN 0121 678 8130

Distribution contact: Steven Brassey Operations Central Directorate Services Team The Cube 199 Wharfside Street Birmingham B1 1RN 0121 678 8440

CMM applies to the following forms of Contract (delete as appropriate):

MAC / ASC / TechMAC / RTMC/

DBFO /

Communication to Service Provider required? (delete as appropriate):

Yes

Action copies to: Operations Asset Delivery Managers DBFO Departments Representatives

Information copies to: David Brewer

Operations Directors

Paul Williamson

Asset Development Managers

Contract and Performance Team Leaders

Contract Governance Team

Authorising Officer NAME: Martin Bolt GRADE: SCS1

INSTRUCTIONS TO ‘ACTION’ RECIPIENTS: CMMs are for internal Highways England use only, and should not be copied directly to Service Providers. If a communication is required, please ensure that the Service Provider is notified accordingly – a draft letter will typically be included for this purpose.

CMM xx/16

CARRIAGEWAY CROSSING AND LIVE LANE WORKING –

CLARIFICATION 1. Introduction

CMM 97/15 was distributed to the regional teams on 17th July 2015. It provided instructions to Contract Managers and a letter to service providers with regards to the live carriageway crossing and live lane working by foot data entry sheet to be submitted monthly. Highways England Operations Performance Team has started to collate these data entry sheets, which will be used for trend analysis to inform senior managers. Carriageway crossings and live lane working continue to be two of the most significant health and safety risks for road workers on our network. Being struck by a vehicle in a live lane is a source of catastrophic risk; as an organisation we have made it our top priority to reduce this as part of the Five Year Health and Safety Plan and the RoWSaF Road Worker Safety Action Plan. The data collected from service providers supports and informs Highways England’s target, which was to eliminate live carriageway crossings associated with traffic management from January 2015 and to aim to eliminate the need for road workers to be on foot on a live carriageway by Dec 2016.

2. Consideration

This CMM clarifies the data collection definitions and provides a simpler data entry sheet for recording of carriageway crossings and live lane working on the Strategic Road Network. This CMM also seeks to reassure the service provider that the collation of this performance data is to gain a better understanding of the operations where carriageway crossings and live lane working are still required. Identifying these will enable us to work together on potential approaches to eliminate those instances where a carriageway crossing or live lane working is not a working method that has a risk level that is as low as reasonably practicable (ALARP). The definition of carriageway crossings and live lane working, along with supporting technical guidance have been updated to support this objective and are available in Annex A. Carriageway crossings and live lane working should be reported in two simple categories: temporary traffic management operations and work activity. This simplifies the reporting requirement in order to offset the

increased number of sub-categories within each of the main categories. The data entry sheet instructions have been updated to reflect this change.

The data entry sheet should continue to be forwarded from the service providers to Operations Performance Team (Operations [email protected]) and the Regional Contract and Performance Team by Working Day 4 (WD4) each month at the same time as the near misses data entry sheet. Some service providers are already obliged to provide this data in their Area reports. This memo is not introducing any additional requirements, but simply seeks to ensure all service providers are reporting this information in a consistent format across all areas. Therefore, this activity should be considered business as usual and no Compensation Event claim or additional payment would be appropriate. Service providers are measured on the submission of the carriageway crossings and live lane working data entry sheets, as part of the Collaborative Performance Framework (CPF). For clarity, the existing metric scores the service provider according to whether they have sent the live carriageway crossing and live lane working data entry sheet and that it is completed correctly and received on time. The service provider is NOT scored on the number or category of live lane

working and/or carriageway crossings reported on the sheet – these data

are only recorded to improve understanding of operations where

carriageway crossings and live lane working are still carried out and so

help identify where these working techniques are the lowest risk approach.

Completion of this safety information relates to Interim Advice Note (IAN) 128/15/A - Highways Agency Supply Chain Health and Safety Reporting; notably clauses 6.2 - 6.3 requiring carriageway crossings and live lane working instances to be recorded separately.

3. Action Required

The draft letter at Annex 1 should be sent by Service Managers and Department Representatives to each service provider that operates on the strategic road network (SRN). Regional Contract and Performance Teams continues to remind service providers to submit their carriageway crossings and live lane working data entry sheet by WD4 each month to Operations [email protected]. This deadline is aligned with the near misses data entry sheet. The updated carriageway crossings and live lane working data entry sheet should be extracted from the link below (Annex B) and attached to your letter. Encs: Annex 1 – draft Service Manager / Department Representatives letter Annex A - Definition of Live Carriageway Crossings and Live Lane Working with supporting FAQs.

Annex B - carriageway crossing and live lane working data entry sheet Annex C - 6.2. Incident Severity Table from IAN 128/12

Draft Letter to Providers Annex 1

To: MAC Service Provider From: Operations Service Manager / ASC Service Provider DR Rep

DBFO Companies TechMAC/ RTMC Service Provider cc: Date: Dear CARRIAGEWAY CROSSING AND LIVE LANE WORKING CLARIFICATION

We sent a letter to you during July 2015 about the introduction of “live carriageway crossing and live lane working by foot” data entry sheet. This letter is to provide further clarification of reporting requirements following feedback from service providers. The object of this approach is to gain a better understanding of the circumstances where live lane working and carriageway crossings are still required. This will help us all work together to identify whether these residual crossings could be eliminated, and if so, how they could be eliminated. Working through RoWSaF, Highways England is working to achieve its live lane working target - “Aim to eliminate the need for road workers to be on foot on a live carriageway by Dec 2016". This was set as a leadership target with the objective of discouraging industry working practices where road workers were exposed to live traffic and to encourage the adoption of safer techniques which would better protect workers across the network. The elimination of over 99% of carriageway crossings has already substantially reduced risk, however workers are still exposed to significant risks working in live lanes whilst setting out temporary traffic management. Most of this risk is associated with laying tapers and setting nearside signs. The live lane working target however needs to be considered in conjunction with the need for service providers to carry out a site-specific risk assessment. The risk assessment is a vital step determining which technique would be safest where risk is managed As Low As Reasonably Practicable (ALARP) in any one situation. The live lane working target is an example of Highways England's determination to drive down risk, however it should not be interpreted as simply a ban on live lane working. Highways England acknowledges that there will be some situations where the adoption of alternative techniques to avoid live lane working may actually increase overall risk instead of reducing it. If the site-specific risk assessment concludes that the most ALARP solution would be to conduct live lane working, then Highways England will

support this conclusion. In these situations however, the live lane working activity must be included in the monthly near miss reporting process and copies of the risk assessments retained. Your recording of carriageway crossings and live lane working should include all the carriageway crossings or live lane working carried out for temporary traffic management activity and highway work activity. Annex A sets out the reporting requirements, which have been agreed by Highways England and service providers following consultation with the Road Workers Safety Forum (RoWSaF). Please continue to submit a fully populated Carriageway crossing and Live Lane Working data entry sheets each month by Working Day 4 (WD4) alongside the near misses data entry sheet to [email protected] and copy in your regional Highways England contract and performance team representative. The data entry sheet includes updated instructions for reporting. It is contained within Annex B. This letter relates to current contract obligations set out by Interim Advice Note (IAN) 128/12 – Highways Agency Supply Chain Health and Safety Reporting, where live carriageway crossing and live lane working by foot occurrences are classed as a Level 4 event. The relevant excerpt from IAN 128/12 is at Annex C. I would be grateful if you could acknowledge receipt of this notification, circulate the attached template and instructions to relevant colleagues in your organisation and if applicable, RTMC providers. Yours sincerely, Service Manager / Department’s Representative Encs: Annex A – Definitions of Carriageway Crossings and Live Lane Working with supporting examples and notes. Annex B –Carriageway Crossing and Live Lane Working data entry sheet. Annex C - 6.2. Incident Severity Table from IAN 128/12

Annex A

Road Workers’ Safety Forum Trials Team

Defining Carriageway Crossings and Live Lane Working

The following technical definitions apply to terms used in this Annex: Carriageway The part of any highway or other road to which the public has

access1 over which the public have a right of way for the passage of vehicles2, including any bridge or tunnel that the highway passes over or through3

Live lane Any part of the carriageway being used by traffic where the public entitlement to use a carriageway for the passage of vehicles has not been temporarily suspended by lawful signs or signals (e.g. a “ROAD CLOSED” sign4 or a red traffic signal/red ‘X’) or by the lane being lawfully obstructed (e.g. by road works or a stationary Impact Protection Vehicle)

Mandatory speed limit The maximum speed at which traffic may lawfully travel on the carriageway, whether permanent or temporary

Road works activity Any activity, carried out on behalf of a highway authority, to undertake the maintenance, repair, clearance, alteration or improvement of the highway

Temporary traffic

management activity Any activity related to the measures (such as barriers, signing and lighting) put in place to prevent danger to traffic, regulate traffic and warn traffic5 of road works, whilst keeping traffic flowing past the road works as safely and as freely as possible.

Place of relative safety A location on a road which meets the requirements for minimum lateral clearance6 from the part of the carriageway being used by traffic or any location within a work site that is not part of the safety zone.

For the purposes of reporting temporary traffic management

activity live lane working7, the place of relative safety extends to the outside edge of any lane markings that separate the work area from the adjacent live lane and/or includes the area within the work site safety zone8

1 Road Traffic Regulation Act 1988 s192(1) 2 Highways Act 1980 s329(1) 3 Highways Act 1980 s328(2) 4 Diagram 7010.1 in the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 5 Highways Act 1980 s174(1)(a) 6 Chapter 8 O/D3.2.6 and 3.2.7 indicate minimum lateral clearance is 1.2m on high speed roads (≥50mph) and an absolute

minimum of 0.5m on single carriageways 7 Chapter 8 O3.2.8 indicates that the safety zone may be entered as necessary to place, replace, remove, clean and

otherwise maintain the traffic cones and cylinders, warning lights, signs, temporary barriers and fences etc., which are part of the signing and guarding of the works site

8 As per Chapter 8 O/D3.2.7

Definition of a Carriageway Crossing

A single carriageway crossing is defined as:

“The action of leaving a place of relative safety and, without the intent to stop, passing across one or more live lanes (in which traffic would be expected to be travelling at or near the speed limit) with the aim of reaching a second place of relative safety where any activity will be carried out”

Definition of Live Lane Working

Live lane working is defined as:

“The action of leaving a place of relative safety with the intention of stopping to carry out one or more activities outside of a place of relative safety (e.g. within a live lane) before returning to a place of relative safety”

The above definitions can be expanded into five simple Golden Rules:

Rule 1 If there is no traffic because the road is closed (either temporarily or permanently), it isn’t a carriageway crossing or live lane working

Rule 2 If nobody has to leave a relative place of safety to do an activity, it isn’t a carriageway crossing or live lane working

Rule 3 If the traffic on the carriageway to be crossed won’t be travelling at or near the mandatory speed limit that’s in force, it isn’t a carriageway crossing

Rule 4 If somebody has to cross one or more lanes of a live carriageway (where traffic will be travelling at or near the mandatory speed limit) to reach a place of relative safety where they are going to do something, it’s one carriageway crossing

Rule 5 If the activity somebody is going to do can’t or won’t be done inside a place of relative safety, it’s live lane working even if they have to cross the carriageway to do it

FAQs

Q: When there is no traffic, is it a carriageway crossing?

A: No – if traffic can’t flow freely it should not be counted; below are some examples: Crossing a road or working on the carriageway when traffic is held up by a police/Traffic Officer rolling road block or a convoy control vehicle used as described in Chapter 8 or IAN187/15

Carriageway crossing? No Why?

The road is effectively closed by the rolling road block or the convoy control vehicle so there are no live traffic lanes Live lane working? No

Category to count in? None

Crossing a road downstream of a location where traffic has stopped (or will have to stop) at a red traffic light


The road is effectively closed by the red traffic light so there are no live traffic lanes while the light remains red Live lane working? No


Crossing a road downstream of a location where traffic has been stopped (or will have to stop) by a STOP/GO sign showing “STOP” or by a road worker using a “STOP – WORKS” sign


The road is effectively closed by the “STOP” sign or the “STOP – WORKS” sign so there are no live traffic lanes Live lane working? No


Crossing a side road downstream of a location where traffic has stopped (or will have to stop) at a permanent “STOP” sign before joining the main carriageway


The road is NOT closed by the “STOP” sign - but traffic will not be travelling at or near the speed limit on the side road Live lane working? No


Crossing a road downstream of a “ROAD CLOSED” sign indicating closure of the main carriageway in accordance with a TTRO


The road is closed by the TTRO and the “ROAD CLOSED” sign; traffic should not pass so there are no live traffic lanes Live lane working? No


Q: What about setting out cone tapers? Can we still use all the methods in the HTMA

guidance or will any methods be prohibited by the ban on live lane working?

A: There is no intention to ban live lane working.

Working methods that result in a risk that is As Low As Reasonably Practicable will always be best practice and should always be followed.

Even given the ambition to eliminate live lane working as far as possible, there will always be a small number of very specific situations where risk assessment indicates that a carriageway crossing or live lane working is the working method with risk that is ALARP, compared to risks from other working methods.

Industry good practice for using Impact Protection Vehicles when setting out cone tapers should still be used, subject to risk assessment demonstrating the risk from their use is ALARP. The only change is the request that live lane working is reported consistently so that there is clarity over what is being reported.

For cone tapers, please use the “first cone down” rule

– if a taper is placed in a live lane (i.e. where there is no direct physical protection for the road workers upstream),

o please DO count the first cone down as one instance of live lane working o please DON’T count any other cones after the first cone has been placed

– if a taper is placed in a lane that is closed (e.g. by physical obstruction of the lane by a

stationary IPV upstream) or the carriageway is closed, o please DON’T count it as live lane working

The reporting of carriageway crossings and live lane working is intended to help

identify how many instances of each activity are carried out – it isn’t intended to encourage, discourage or change the methods used for setting out cone tapers.

Examples of applying the “first cone” rule are below:

Setting out a relaxation scheme taper in Lane 3 of a three-lane dual carriageway downstream (i.e. in front of) an IPV parked in Lane 3


The IPV provides direct physical obstruction for the road workers, closing the lane upstream Live lane working? No


Setting out a the first cone of a relaxation scheme taper in a live Lane 1, placing cones from the hard shoulder with a TM vehicle present on the hard shoulder upstream of the taper location


There is no direct physical obstruction of the lane meaning the lane is open. Count first cone of the taper only (one instance).

Live lane working? Yes

Category to count in? Temporary Traffic Management Activity: Installation or removal of temporary signs/ taper cones/longitudinal cones/warning lights

Setting out a the first cone of a relaxation scheme taper in a live Lane 1, placing cones from the hard shoulder with an IPV present on the hard shoulder upstream of the taper location


There is no direct physical obstruction of the lane meaning the lane is open. Count first cone of the taper only (one instance).



Setting out a the first cone of a relaxation scheme taper in a live Lane 3 of a three-lane dual carriageway, where an IPV is present downstream of the taper location


There is no direct physical obstruction of the lane meaning the lane is open. Count first cone of the taper only (one instance)



Setting out the first cone of a relaxation scheme taper in Lane 2 on a three-lane dual carriageway from the already-closed Lane 3 (or Lane 1)


It is not the first cone of the taper Live lane working? No


The process for installation of the second lane of a two lane taper (or indeed the third lane of a three lane taper) is very similar to the process for placing the first cone of a Lane 1 taper installed from the hard shoulder - so why is it not being recorded?

The reason is to make reporting as easy as possible, to limit the impact on service providers. The “first cone down” approach to reporting came from service providers and is easy to apply. This makes it easy to report, hopefully giving good data for live lane exposure from installing/removing tapers.

Q: What about other traffic management activities? What should be counted?

A: Temporary traffic management activities carried out within 1.2m of live traffic shouldn’t be counted as live lane working even if your organisation views them as such. If TTM activity involves live lane working or carriageway crossings, it needs to be counted.

Below are some examples:

Installing a temporary sign on the verge of an All Purpose Trunk Road in a place that is less than 1.2m away from Lane 1, which is still open to traffic


Temporary traffic management activity, so the extended “place of relative safety” should be applied Live lane working? No


Some service providers consider this to be live lane working and don’t agree with extending the “place of relative safety” for TTM operations to include the safety zone as specified in Chapter 8.

If that is the case for your organisation please don’t record TTM activity within 1.2m of the live carriageway as live lane working as this will result in inconsistency in reporting, making the data less valuable.

Carrying a cone across a carriageway (e.g. to place it by the barrier) before returning across the carriageway to a nearside closure


The work (placing the cone) isn’t carried out from in a place of safety Live lane working? Yes


Entering the safety zone to retrieve a cone that has been knocked out of line and return it to its place in the cone line


Temporary traffic management activity, so the extended “place of relative safety” should be applied Live lane working? No


Entering a live lane to retrieve a cone that has been knocked out of line and return it to its place in the cone line


The work (retrieving the cone) isn’t carried out from in a place of safety Live lane working? Yes

Category to count in? Temporary Traffic Management Activity: Maintaining any TTM, including all temporary signs (including sign lighting), all cones and all warning lights

Q: What about highway work activity? What do we need to report?

A: The list of work activity can’t be exhaustive but if an activity carried out by a service provider meets Rule 4 or Rule 5 of the Five Golden Rules it should be reported.

Below are some examples (based on feedback from Service Providers):

Crossing a carriageway to inspect barrier footings in the central reserve that were damaged in an accident and need to be repaired or replaced


The work (inspecting the barrier footings to support repair) has to be carried out less than 1.2m from live traffic and so isn’t in a place of relative safety for work activity


Category to count in? Highway Work Activity: Work on a vehicle restraint system

Crossing a carriageway to the central reserve to clear debris from a drain grating situated in the middle of the central reservation between the barriers

Carriageway crossing? Yes Why?

The work (clearing the drain) is carried out in a place of relative safety; two crossings should be recorded (one out to the central reservation and one back to the roadside)

Live lane working? No

Category to count in? Highway Work Activity: Work on carriageway drainage

Responding to flooding on the carriageway by crossing the carriageway to clear a drain that is in the live lane close to the central reserve


The work (clearing the drain) is carried out from the live lane, not a place of relative safety – as Golden Rule 4 isn’t met it is live lane working and not a carriageway crossing



During grass cutting operations on a trunk road, crossing an at-grade side road which joins the main carriageway, where traffic leaving the main carriageway has to slow down significantly to make the turn and where traffic entering the trunk road has to stop or give way


The traffic on the carriageway crossed won’t be travelling at or near the speed limit that’s in force on the road Live lane working? No


During grass cutting operations on a roundabout on a trunk road, crossing to the centre of the roundabout via a section of the carriageway where traffic does not have to slow significantly


The activity (grass cutting) involves crossing the roundabout where traffic may be travelling at or near the speed limit Live lane working? No

Category to count in? Highway work activity: Work on a splitter island/central refuge

During grass cutting operations on a motorway, crossing a grade-separated exit slip where traffic leaving the main carriageway does not slow significantly before the junction


The activity (grass cutting) requires crossing a slip road where traffic is travelling at or near the speed limit Live lane working? No

Category to count in? Highway work activity: Work on a slip road

Repairing a small pothole in the hard shoulder surface that is 1m from the edge of the hard shoulder nearest to Lane 1


The works activity (repairing the hard shoulder) is being carried out less than 1.2m from live traffic and so is outside of a place of relative safety


Category to count in? Highway work activity: Working on the main carriageway surface

Q: What about incidents? Do we count them or not?

A: Yes – both highway work activity by service providers designed to prevent incidents and to respond to incidents needs to be recorded against the relevant category.

Below are some examples based on feedback from Service Providers:

Responding to flooding on the carriageway by crossing the carriageway to clear a drain that is in the live lane next to the central reserve


The work (clearing the drain) needs to be carried out from the live lane and not a place of relative safety – as Golden Rule 4 isn’t met it doesn’t count as a carriageway crossing



Responding to an obstruction in the carriageway by clearance of a dead animal from just over the Lane 1- hard shoulder dividing line


The work (clearance of the dead animal) is carried out in a live lane - even though it’s done from the hard shoulder the work is carried out less than 1.2m from the live lane and so is not


Category to count in? Highway Work Activity: Removal of debris from the carriageway

Clearance of a large item of debris from the live lane next to the central reserve


The work (clearance of debris) is carried out in a live lane - even though most of the carriageway has to be crossed to get to the debris Golden Rule 4 isn’t met, making it live lane working (Golden Rule 5)


Category to count in? Highway Work Activity: Removal of debris from the carriageway

Responding to a pothole appearing in the carriageway surface of a live lane on a motorway by temporarily repairing it using “fill, stamp and run”, making use of suitable gap(s) in traffic


The work (temporary pothole repair) is carried out in a live lane. Count live lane working once for each time you enter the live lane to fill the pothole – so three shovels of material to fill the pothole = three instances of live lane working


Category to count in? Highway Work Activity: Work on the main carriageway surface

Putting down spill granules in a live lane on the main carriageway surface to prevent damage to the carriageway and/or prevent skidding


The work (putting down the granules) is carried out in a live lane Live lane working? Yes

Category to count in? Highway Work Activity: Work on the main carriageway surface

Excerpt from IAN 128/12 Annex C

OPERATIONS CONTRACT MANAGEMENT MEMO CMM … · OPERATIONS CONTRACT MANAGEMENT MEMO CMM xx/16 SUBJECT: CARRIAGEWAY CROSSING AND LIVE LANE WORKING - CLARIFICATION Date Issued: (to be

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