The New Roads & Street Works Act 1991, which came into force on the 1st January 1993, stipulates that the street authorities (i.e. usually the local council) are to co-ordinate all works in the highway.
The objectives of the Act (or law) is to ensure safety, to minimise the inconvenience to people using the highway (including a specific reference to people with a disability) and to protect the structure of the highway and apparatus in it.
Anyone carrying out street works must carry out the work in accordance with the Act. People carrying out work are referred to as “undertakers” in the Act. Undertakers must comply with the Safety at street works and road works code of practice (more commonly known as the red book).
It is only right that if people are working on a highway they need to ensure that the highway is safe and that the people around are safe. Obviously we all accept that in some works part of roads may be closed and diversions may be in place. Safety of others is paramount as is limiting the inconvenience caused as much as is reasonably possible.
The key tool to co-ordinating road works is advanced notification of all road work that is to be carried out. The length of notification required is dependent upon the scale of the proposed work. Obviously for big scale projects more notice should be given. Licenses are required to work on highways and it is an offence under Section 51 of the Act to open a highway without first obtaining a licence from the highways authority (i.e. the local council). To be eligible for a license the following criteria must be met:
- Street works must be marked in accordance with the Act (this covers things like signing, lighting and guarding);
- Location plan of the proposed area for works;
- Traffic management plans and any associated application (this covers things like skips, lane closures, road closures etc);
- Evidence that the proposed contractors are accredited to do the work under the Act;
- Sufficient public liability insurance is in place (at least £5 million).
The above list is not exhaustive but you can see that the conditions are fairly strict. These are in place to achieve the overall aims of safety, to minimise inconvenience and to protect the structure of the road. Note that not all contractors working on the road have to be qualified in accordance with the Act, however one should be qualified at supervisor level and another should be qualified at operative level. So there is a minimum that two workers are qualified under the Act. There are courses that people can attend to gain the necessary accreditation.
One of the main aims of the Act is to ensure safety, after all council’s continue to pay out compensation to people who sustain injury as a result of defects within the highway. Tripping accident on the highway are still one of the most common types of personal injury claims.
