Industry wide campaign to deliver a series of public engagement events as part of Respect our Workforce week.
Stamp it Out, the industry-wide campaign which aims to make the abuse of those of who work on the public highways a thing of the past is to take to the road as a part of Respect our Workforce week with a series of public engagement events across the East of England next week (11th - 15th March)
The roadshow, designed to illustrate to members of the public the inherent risks which those who work on the public highway face on an almost daily basis will take in a number of key cities across the east of England across the course of the week.
Supported by National Highways and key contractors including Graham Construction, John Sick and Sons and Octavius, as well as traffic management contractors HW Martin, Go Traffic Management and Core Highway, supported by technology provider HRS, the week aims to deliver a message to the road using public that the abuse who are working on the public highway is wholly unacceptable.
The locations of each day of the roadshows are:
Monday 11th March – Norwich Riverside Shopping Centre Car Park – Koblenz Ave, Norwich NR1 1WT
Tuesday 12th March – Tesco Cambridge - Cheddars Ln, Newmarket Rd, Cambridge CB5 8LD
Thursday – 14th March – Peterborough – Cathedral Arch which is opposite Cathedral Square Peterborough
Friday – 15th March – Newport Pagnell Services (M1 NB) - 14/15 M1, Newport Pagnell MK16 8DS
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.
In retail, shop workers see over 1,000 cases of abuse daily and across both sectors this is something that employers, collectively, are now saying is not acceptable.
In the East of England alone in the last 12 months there were 343 reported cases of abuse including an operative threatened with a knife by member of the public trying to force their way onto a worksite.
These figures are mirrored around the UK, as more public workers face threats of physical and verbal abuse with almost 60% reporting this to be a weekly occurrence with certain job roles such as traffic management experiencing it on a nightly basis.
The negative impact of this on the mental health of the individuals subjected to the abuse is something which is, inevitably, of concern to employers , as Steve Day, Contracts Manager at Go Traffic Management explains:
“Obviously this has a massive impact (on the mental health of people), nobody likes to go to work and find themselves subjected to a constant torrent of abuse, let alone to have this every day.”
Kevin Robinson, founder and Campaign Director of Think Respect added: “The significant increase in workforce abuse in the East against those who work on the public highway is sadly rising not only there but in every part of the country. This has become a societal problem that is getting worse by the day.
“If you were a teacher, a doctor or a nurse, you wouldn’t expect someone to come into your workplace and physically abuse you, so why should these workers?
Do you have a schedule of events? We'd love to come along and support!