Utility Week

20 | 1ST - 7TH JUNE 2018 | UTILITY WEEK Operations & Assets Utility Week Awards winner case study Health and Safety Initiative of the Year • Award winner: Wessex Water • Title of project/initiative: collabora- tion with SafeWise • Annual company turnover: £525.3 million • Number of directly employed staff: 2,300 Entry criteria: 1. Quality of entry (clear, evidence- based, etc) 2. Evidence of innovation 3. Quantifiable benefits for workforce, business and customers 4. Commitment to all-round health and safety policy 5. Evidence of wider adoption/setting best practice for the industry 6. Evidence of sustainable benefits. The Utility Week Awards are held in asso- ciation with CGI and Capgemini. The 2018 Utility Week Awards will be opening soon. Sponsorship opportunities are available – contact Utility Week busi- ness development manager Ben Ham- mond on benhammond@fav-house.com or 01342 332116 for more information. Wessex Water and SafeWise What makes a Utility Week Award winner? We look in detail at Wessex Water's winning entry for the 2017 Healthy & Safety Initiative of the Year Award. W essex Water worked in collabora- tion with SafeWise, a Dorset-based charity, to raise awareness among road users about minimising risk when approaching roadworks, as well as improv- ing its own understanding of that risk. In reaction to the news that SafeWise was keen to develop a new safety site in Wey- mouth, a team of volunteers made up of staff from Wessex Water cleared the area. This having proven a success, the two companies agreed to collaborate further on a variety of projects. The collaboration's work to date has included holding focus groups, producing a road safety awareness video and animation, and providing an educational facility for schoolchildren and adults. What was the scale of the project? The most significant of the projects was a mock streetworks site at the new centre, but Wessex Water has also since held focus groups, produced an animated road safety awareness video, and allowed one of its sites to be used as a SafeWise educational facility for both schoolchildren and adult visitors. The company is now looking to introduce an improved ramp design for wheelchair users, and a more proactive approach will be taken with regard to encouraging road users to be considerate to pedestrians in the area. Among the findings that came to light was that barriers and walkways are created with the assumption that everyone can speak English, identify colours and see clearly. What was the target group? Wessex Water completes around 60,000 jobs in the road each year but claims that the SafeWise project will have a reach far broader than local motorists: "Through invit- ing children to see our roadworks mock-up, we're able to educate the drivers and road users of the future. Numerous schools and colleges have visited the centre to date, and such is its success that there are now plans to open another centre in the region," says a spokesperson. Wessex says using "real people" in its video means it resonates with whoever is watching it. The idea is that viewers gain a greater respect for all roadside workers, who have the right to work in a safe environment without the risk of cars negotiating past roadworks dangerously. Why this approach? Through its work with SafeWise, Wessex decided to further engage with the local community, and get its feedback on current roadwork set-ups. All of these were already compliant with the Roads and Streetworks Act, but the company's work with Safe- Wise inspired it to work more closely with the people likely to be most affected by the roadworks. The previously mentioned focus group that was held in conjunction with SafeWise also involved Mobility UK and the Royal National Institute of the Blind (RNIB), as well as the local fire and rescue service. The aim was to glean feedback on why Barriers and walkways are created with the assumption that everyone can speak English, identify colours and see clearly

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