M60 road workers make a stand for safety

Employees working on the M60 smart motorway route in Greater Manchester recently made a united stand in support of road worker safety by holding an ‘Aiming for Zero’ awareness day.

Nearly 400 people are currently employed on the £208 million project which sees upgrades being made between junction 8 of the M60 in Trafford and junction 20 of the M62 in Rochdale. The project is being delivered by Balfour Beatty, Costain, Carillion and BAM/Morgan Sindall in joint venture on behalf of Highways England.

Over 360 employees and sub-contractors who work on the project attended the event held at the AJ Bell Stadium in Salford.

The event showcased the six main areas of risk that road workers are exposed to on a daily basis including working at height, plant people interface, underground services, lifting operations, electricity and public interface.

Jon Pilkington, the project’s health and safety manager, said: “The Aiming for Zero safety day has been a fantastic opportunity to showcase the importance of the health and wellbeing of our workforce. It is important that operatives working on site are healthy and looked after by their employers. The advance in staff training and wellbeing facilities has shown how far the industry has come in the last 10 years. We have used technology to really change the induction process and overall management of staff training requirements.”

Dave Emery, project director, added: “The M60 smart motorway scheme is one of the biggest construction projects currently taking place in the region, so it’s vital we do all that we can to make sure our workforce stay safe. By holding an Aiming for Zero safety day we have collectively made a stand to highlight the issue of risk in the construction industry.”