The story behind CLOCS – and what it means for you
We’ve been taking a close look at cyclist safety in our recent blogs. That’s because it’s something which influences our product range massively and inspires us to continue making stand out products to ensure vehicle, cyclist and pedestrian safety.
One of the initiatives that has helped shape our product range is CLOCS – The Construction Logistics and Cyclist Safety report that set out to ensure the wellbeing of vulnerable road users, such as cyclists.
CLOCS was established following a large number of cyclist fatalities on London’s roads. Between 2008 and 2012, 53 per cent of cyclist fatalities in London involved a heavy goods vehicle, the majority of which were construction vehicles. As a result, Transport for London commissioned an independent review of the construction sector’s transport activities to help them to understand the causes of these collisions and how they might be prevented. This outcome of this review was the CLOCS report, published in February 2013.
CLOCS Report findings
The findings from the 2013 report were are follows:
- Blind spots on construction vehicles could be larger than general haulage vehicles
- Road safety was not considered in same way as health and safety on-site
- There was little understanding of the impact of construction activity on road safety
- There was no common standard for the industry to work to in order to manage work related road safety
The results were a real concern for Transport of London, and as a result the three workstreams were developed to improve road safety.
Workstream one: Safer vehicles
The first workstream emphasises the need to look at improving vehicle safety, through both design and manufacture of safer new vehicles and fitting appropriate safety equipment to existing vehicles.
With regards to the former, CLOCS is challenging vehicle manufacturers and regulatory bodies to improve the design of construction vehicles right from the start.
With regards to the latter, this is where Vision Techniques come in – designing equipment to improve vehicle safety, via safety mechanisms like VT Turnalarm, VT Turnsafe, and our newest product VT Turnsign.
Workstream two: Ensuring knowledge and working practice of road safety
The second workstream emphasises the need to address the safety imbalance in the construction industry by ensuring road safety is taken as seriously as health and safety on site.
Businesses in the construction industry are now being advised to log collisions and near misses on the CLOCS Manager system. You can register for this system at here. CLOCS toolkit is another complementary tool offered to those working in the construction industry. This system manages collision reporting and analysis fully complements CLOCS Manager. It provides fleet operators with comprehensive guidance on what to do following a collision – ranging from actions the driver should take at the scene through to investigating a collision and acting on lessons learned.
Workstream three: Setting new standards and embedding a new cultural norm
The third and final workstream emphasises adoption of best practice across the construction logistics industry through taking best in class examples and embedding a new cultural norm.
Those in the construction logistics industry are now encouraged to follow the Standard for construction logistics: Managing work related road risk which gives guidelines on how best manage road safety in a consistent way. CLOCS will be continuing to monitor the implementation of the Standard, its effectiveness, future versions and additional guidance.
To find out more about our safety products and how they can help you, contact us today.