Petition highlights abuse and violence experienced by road workers

‘Stamp it Out’ campaign wants to make it a specific criminal offence to assault highway workers

- Sector News
05.10.20

A task force has been set up to highlight the worrying levels of abuse road workers suffer when undertaking their employment duties.

Led by Kari Sprostanova, Health and Safety Director of Balfour Beatty UKCS and Rachel Heaps Business Management Systems Manager at Tarmac, the task force is working to highlight the increase of road worker abuse, which is affecting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of workers on an alarmingly regular basis.

‘Stamp it Out’ aims to support free to access training on conflict resolution and to provide a free to access app for the workforce to be able to report instances of abuse in real-time.

Ms Sprostanova said: 'Everyone has the right to feel safe at work. Nobody should ever be threatened, intimidated or assaulted because of the job they do. And yet this is a scenario faced by thousands of people who work on this country’s road networks every single day.”

Highways magazine: 3,000 names and rising: Let's end road worker abuse

Maybo perspective

Sadly, no matter what industry you work within, violence in the workplace is a very real challenge faced by staff; so it is good to see that a task force has been set up to represent the views and needs of road workers.

Our personal safety and conflict management training provides staff with everyday practical skills for managing conflict, which can help to improve staff confidence, wellbeing and mental health, should an incident occur.