Motorway Notice..

[10ClarionSt]

I've seen a notice a few times at the side of the motorway saying "Picking up your litter is putting workers lives at risk". If the employers are aware of that fatal risk, why do they ask their staff to do it? Aren't they just as responsible?

[rowanwitch]

Not the best phrased strategy. Tell people you have to close a lane for them to do it, and a 30 mph limit will be put in force might be more use

[hc4361]

They do it because they are responsible for all aspects of motorway safety and debris can cause accidents.

[Ryzen]

Here's another...Caution:Slow workers on the road...well tell them to hurry up then. And why can we only afford average speed cameras instead of decent ones?

[Prudie]

It's aimed at the conscience of those who don't give a toss about the environment but may just care a tad about humans or the trouble it would cause if they hit one. It's on similar lines to the one of the child saying drive carefully my daddy works here. Quite a good ad strap I think.

[10ClarionSt]

I still think it's wrong to post a notice like that, then send people out to do the dangerous stuff we're being warned about. There should be one that says "Sending people out onto the motorway to pick up litter is
life-threatening, but we're going to do it anyway"

[Zacs-Master]

You could equally argue ‘why would anyone do a job where your likely to die?’

[murraymints]

don't they normally close the inside lane when litter picking etc is going on ?

[EDDIE51]

People throw all sorts of things out of car windows. Glass bottles (which break) and bits of jagged metal scrap included. Unless these are picked up they are likely to puncture a tyre and cause an accident. The road workers HAVE to pick them up, not doing so could cause an accident. The highway authority could (and would) be sued if they left dangerous litter such as cans and glass on the carriageway.

[alavahalf]

Have you never heard of 'Risk assesment' .. it is an employers obligation to reduce risk to a minimum before an employer sends some out to take on a task which some may feel is dangerous.
Picking litter on the motorway sounds dangerous .. lets face it have you ever seen operatives dodging between cars in the fast lane while trying to pick up discarded Costa cups .. no, it is a controlled exercise where the operative works soley on the hard shoulder and enbankments.

[Zacs-Master]

I can’t find any statistics showing that anyone has died doing this which means either the signs are working, or as I suspect, it’s not as dangerous as they’re making out.

[murraymints]

I've only seen it done when inside lane is closed

[EDDIE51]

murraymints. Yes ,they do close the inside lane when clearing the hard shoulder. But a lot of litter ends up on the central area reservation or just on the carriageway. They also close the center lanes to clear the central reservation. But all this takes a lot of time,effort and staff. Would you rather that they just left the litter , which includes glass and metal just laying on the road? Unless it was regularly cleared the motorways (& other roads) would soon become impassable due to the volume of rubbish dumped.

[Old_Geezer]

Keep Britain Tidy.

Although society seems to be getting worse, regarding litter dropping and fly tipping, etc. (unsure why, possibly poor parenting) it's still the minority who behave abominably, and they won't be swayed by anything much because they haven't the intelligence or instinct to understand it's wrong anyway.

But once dropped it has to be removed at public expense.

[10ClarionSt]

Have I ever heard of a Risk Assessment? No. Not even when I was a FLT instructor; or a warehouse supervisor; or a shift manager. The notice would seem to suggest to me that a risk assessment had been carried out, the result of which would indicate that employees could possibly die from this activity. Would any decent employer require their employees to carry out this task in those circumstances?

[murraymints]

Has to be done Eddie..agree...if a bike were to hit debris at speed it could be calamitous

[Old_Geezer]

Of course. Job has to be done, but risks are minimalised.
Many many jobs can be deadly.

[New Judge]

"The notice would seem to suggest to me that a risk assessment had been carried out, the result of which would indicate that employees could possibly die from this activity. Would any decent employer require their employees to carry out this task in those circumstances?"

The risk assessment process is not about eliminating all risk. If that were so many jobs would not be undertaken. It is about identifying the risks and reducing them to a minimum. It may well be that a risk assessment has concluded that in certain rare circumstances a worker may get killed (messing about on a live motorway is always risky whatever lanes are closed). Hence the wording of the notice.

[10ClarionSt]

Thanks NJ. And all mothers.

[10ClarionSt]

Oops! ^^others^^. Ha ha! :o)

[ummmm]

My OH often works on motorways and dual carriageways. People think that the workers sit around doing not much not realising they are on restricted hours. They aren't allowed to start work until 9:30 and have to be finished before 15:30.