Blue cones bring Lafarge safety award success

An on-site safety scheme featuring bright blue traffic cones has earned Lafarge Contracting a major transportation award. The company’s ‘High Visibility Blue Cones for Overhead Obstruction’ initiative came second, receiving a Highly Commended in the Health and Safety at Work category, at the annual Chartered Institute of Highways and Transportation Awards. 

The judging panel called the scheme an: ‘Exceptional addition to on-site health and safety management. This is a simple but very effective system that clearly identifies a real hazard to those working within the industry. The cone system is easy to implement, requires little workforce training, is immediately recognizable by operatives and could be universally adopted by the industry’.

The safety scheme was the brainchild of Lafarge Aggregates & Concrete UK contracting operations manager Steve Tinkler, to raise the awareness of delivery drivers about overhead site obstructions. 

‘Health and safety is of paramount importance to Lafarge and we continually strive to improve our working methods so that our sites are as safe as possible for our employees, contractors, clients and the public,’ said Mr Tinkler. ‘We recognized one of the biggest dangers on site was the drivers of delivery vehicles being unaware of overhead site obstructions. Most occurrences of collisions with overhead obstructions result from tower lights being transported or lorry bodies being left in the upright position after unloading.’

Mr Tinkler realized something completely different was needed to catch drivers’ attention and mark out hazards, and so the idea of blue cones was created. ‘People are so used to seeing red cones that sometimes they can lose significance, but because the blue cones are a surprise and unusual they catch the eye,’ he explained. ‘This means any hazard they mark out is clearly identified.’

As best practice, Lafarge began to run the cones a set length prior to any obstruction and then again after it so vehicles travelling in both directions were aware of the identified hazard. All levels of staff have been made aware of the safety scheme, and since implementation across the business at the start of 2010, no accidents related to collisions with overhead obstructions have been reported.  

‘The blue cones are inexpensive and a easy method of raising hazard perception,’ said Mr Tinkler. ‘We have rolled the scheme out across the company and it has been universally welcomed. It prevents damage to bridges and over overhead obstructions but more importantly, significantly reduces the risk of injury to workers and members of the general public. I’m delighted such a simple idea is making such a huge difference.’