Over 700 incidents of Road Worker abuse reported in a 2 week period.
Since the launch of Respect our Workforce Week on 11th March, Stamp it out have seen an unprecedented number of cases of abuse reported by the supply chain.
In just a two week period there have been in excess of 700 reported incidents ranging from minor abuse to more serious incidents.
One of these involved a knife being pulled on a traffic management operative, and shockingly over 300 incidents on one scheme alone.
Over the last 12 months Stamp it Out have seen over 2,300 incidents of abuse recorded towards those who work on our roads and provide support services. Given that under-reporting is rife across our sector, the organisation estimate that the scale of the issue is actually significantly higher, and these figures certainly add weight to the argument.
With 1 in 4 roadworkers saying that abuse has negatively affected their mental health this now is becoming a business critical issue for all employers and the increased awareness around the subject is something which has made the issue one which all of those putting people to work on the public highway can no longer ignore, as programme director, Kevin Robinson explains, He said,
"Respect our Workforce week was something of a watershed in the highways sector, the defining moment when clients, contractors and actually those who work on the public highways came together to say enough is enough around the abhorrent levels of abuse which our people face on a nightly basis.
"Our aim across the week was to raise awareness and actually to make the public aware that those who strive to maintain our network on a daily basis are actually real people with family and , just like you and me.
"When we launched this year’s campaign we truly hoped that it would have an impact on the supply chain and empower our people to actually begin to think that the abuse which they suffer on a daily basis was not acceptable but to see the impact and the rise in reporting in such a short period of time is something way beyond any of us associated with the Stamp It Out programme ever expected.
"To see the impact that our work has had in empowering those we put to work to feel that it is not ok to normalise abuse and indeed to report incidents is truly a watershed for not just our industry but also broader society.
"These behaviours need to be something which not just our own people but also law abiding citizens call out as unacceptable."
"To quantify those numbers - 700 in two weeks equals 1,400 a month - thats 16,800 cases a year, as opposed to the 2,800 or so we captured in the whole of 2023.
"Raising awareness is key, as is letting our workforce know that this is an issue we take very very seriously, as both employers and an industry."
Echoing the sentiment Dave Shaw, Managing Director of HW Martin Traffic Management said,
"Raising awareness and actually empowering workforce to report incidents when they happen has long been a challenge for us all as industry leaders.
"Through industry awareness and also an increased accessibility to reporting we are now starting to see the true figures we all knew to be the case.
"Abuse of those going about their daily work is simply not acceptable and in other sectors would be met with public outcry, so why should traffic management and highways maintenance be different."
Stamp it Out through its Jarvis app is seeking to make the Highways and Transportation sector the first industry across the UK where accurate figures of abuse are recorded but also to equip the workforce to deal with potential flashpoint incidents if and sadly when they occur.