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LIMITED OUTLOOK
Page 9
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Barry Proctor is all in favour of safety in the workplace, but feels the Highways Agency has gone too far by enforcing speed limits at 5.15 in the morning.
My particular gripe is with the muddled thinking that seems to persist at the Agency, notably in the area of health and safety of its workforce. What's prompted this conclusion? Well one of my drivers was prosecuted the other day for breaking the 40mph speed limit through the roadworks on the M6 near Sandbach. Now, I honestly have no problem with the 40mph limit if it's absolutely necessary, but I heard the local manager of the Highways Agency say the limits were there "for the protection of its workforce". I just have a couple of small issues with this.
Firstly, my driver was caught by a camera at 5.15am, when most of the workforce were still tucked up in their pyjamas; no health and safety issue there in my eyes. Secondly, other than a 40mph limit, there seems to be nothing in place to protect the road workers. They are separated from the three lanes of traffic by nothing more than a line of orange plastic traffic cones and you can imagine the level of impact absorption they would provide against 44 tonnes of truck and bricks travelling at 40mph. In a world where one of my drivers was reported the other day for not wearing a hard hatin a company canteen you would think that the Agency might wish to offer greater protection to its staff than a thin line of orange plastic, a 40mph limit and a reliance on the skills of the motoring public.