Balfour Beatty has featured on ITV Meridian highlighting the growing issue of roadworker abuse. With three incidents reported every day, the feature sheds light on the day-to-day experiences of those working to keep the UK’s road networks safe and operational.
The coverage follows the recent MP drop-in event held at Westminster on 1 July, where Balfour Beatty called for greater protection for roadworkers and highlighted the need for legislative change.
Steve Helliwell, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty Living Places, said: “Our dream is to get it on the Road Safety Strategy so that it becomes legislation. Our employees maintain vital infrastructure and it’s an important job that they do, a job they have to do to keep traffic flowing… it’s unreasonable and unfair to throw verbal and especially physical abuse at them.”
The piece also features Brenton McLean, Balfour Beatty’s Site Supervisor, who shared his own powerful account: “95% of the abuse is verbal, whether it’s race related or any kind of slur and we don’t get any prosecutions from it. You go home angry or upset but nothing really changes; it’s always playing on your mind and leaves some of the guys not wanting to come back to work… that’s the kind of things we deal with on a day to day basis.”
The ITV Meridian coverage also highlighted the proactive steps Balfour Beatty is taking to tackle roadworker abuse, including the use of body cameras on site to help document and deter incidents.
To view the ITV Meridian coverage, forward to 13:51 here.
ENDS
Image: Brenton McLean features on ITV News
