Stamp it Out is a programme designed to make roadworker abuse unacceptable, to ensure that those we put to work are able to carry out their role without fear of physical harm from members of the public.
Next, to our tagline for all our activates around of Respect our Workforce week, #thinkrespect, which many will think strangely that has to be a two way thing.
But respect is something which we all have to demonstrate, not just the customer using our roads.
When an incursion into a worksite happens, we have to ensure that our workforce behave in a manner where they proactively defuse the situation and do not effectively “pour petrol on the bonfire.”
A worksite is our domain, we are in charge and such the situation is one which is within our gift to control.
We are the ones who have the opportunity to exert control and STOP the situation becoming one which results in a flashpoint.
But sadly, sometimes, we are the architects of our own downfall, something which if we are to drive a culture change has to start with us.
Case Study 1
In the video below we see an agitated motorist who wants to pass through a road closure.
Works have over-run (as sadly happens due to unforeseen circumstances on a regular basis).
The motorist is elderly and, in truth poses little or no threat.
Upon encountering a closure he ‘boils over’ and begins throwing cones and eventually at the escalation of the situation, despite the intervention of his equally elderly wife, he drives his vehicle at the operative in the road.
Analysis
Did we get it wrong – unequivocally YES
The motorist simply wanted to pass through a junction which according to the signage should now be open – something our signage did not reflect, causing confusion.
But crucially, the key point for me was that despite recognising that the road user was very agitated our operative enflamed the situation by not only telling the motorist he was being filmed but also effectively “winding him up” by saying
“If you were a bit more polite I may have let you through,” whilst reinstating the signage.
What then happened was that the operative stood in front of the car and taunted the motorist saying repeatedly “so are you now going to run me over”; “you are gonna be here for a long time mate” and “I have seen children with better attitudes than you.”
The motorist received a caution.
Case Study 2
Birmingham, 2023, a subcontractor is caught on camera urinating against the side of his traffic management vehicle – possibly caught short in an area with no public facilities.
Caught on camera by a member of the public he is challenged, at which point his behaviour becomes aggressive, the incident then reported to the local media who cover the whole incident extensively.
Analysis
Did we get it wrong – unequivocally YES
Again the supply chain demonstrates an aggressive attitude towards the member of the public, who quite rightly challenged the individual, citing the fact that the act could have been witnessed by young children.
The contractor, Kier, quite rightly condemned the act and penalised the subbie, but again this demonstrates that whilst Birmingham City Council are asking people to #xpectrespect their contractors are not displaying the same behaviours.
In conclusion
We are asking the public to #thinkrespect towards our workforce but, in truth, we, as an industry have a lot of work to do to meet them halfway.
In both of these case studies our people got it wrong, we didn’t defuse the situation we instead created one which was much worse.
Stamp it Out aims to make the abuse of our people socially unacceptable but we must, as an industry, drive our workforce and supply chains to exhibit the same levels of social respect that we are asking from the public.
As a father of two young children I don't ask them to do as I say but instead to do as I do, in effect mimic the good behaviours I exhibit to them and as an industry when facing the public, we must do the same.
We must make sure that we are held up as bastions of best practice and our behaviours are exemplar, only then can we ask, and indeed expect the same levels of respect from others and only when we do this can we ask the road user to do the same.
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