"So what we're looking at here is the
Mobile Barrier trailer which has been
imported from America to protect our
workforce from side-impact for working
in Central Reserve Works and also for
Nearside Works, working on live playing
incidents and repairs of their network.
The Mobile Barrier we've brought into the
UK to solve the problem of leaving cones
to be the main protection for road
workers as they work on a high-speed
road. We're trying to do lots more of our
work while still allowing customers to use
the motorways or the roads (that
we're working on alongside them with).
The
Mobile Barrier is designed so that we can
get in there as quickly as possible, get
the work done as quickly as possible, in
a safe environment for the workers, but
also protect the drivers as they
drive alongside those workers, and then get
that vehicle out of there as fast as
possible.
It can be switched from
nearside or outside: so you move the truck
from the front of the vehicle, and you
bring the crash cushion from the rear,
and replace that, and then it swaps over
to nearside or outside.
The driver is
in the safe environment of the cab
so he doesn't have to get out of the vehicle. So
there's no risk from drivers; that's the
main thing: the safety of our guys in
working on the live lanes (the
incursion of vehicles coming in and hitting those guys in the Central Reserve or the nearside carriageways).
So
it's helping the safety of wage workers. It's allowing them to concentrate on the
work that they've got to do and get it
finished as quickly as possible. But it's
actually helping customers as well
because the faster we can get that done, the
safer we can get that done, and get out
of the way, the easier their journeys
will be as well.
There's going to be two
in this year and hopefully that will
increase over the next couple of years.
The speed that we get the works out: I
think it's going to halve the
amount of time that it will take to get the
repairs coming out."