The Stamp it Out led abuse reporting app now to move into a phased roll out amongst the Balfour Beatty Living Places local authority contracts.

Following a successful deployment on the National Highways A63 improvement works, the Safer Highways led Roadworker abuse app now enters its second phase of deployment as it rolls out across the whole of the Balfour Beatty Living places business, commencing in mid august with the Southampton City Council contract.

Following on from this there will be a gradual phased roll out across the rest of the organisation’s contracts as an integration layer is built between the Balfour Beatty observation app and the back office system of the Stamp it Out app.

The ground-breaking reporting tool will, for the first time enable real-time reporting of incidents of abuse and incursions across the whole of the UK road network – whether High or Low speed or National Highways or Local Authority managed.

Named Jarvis, in honour of Kevin Jarvis, a traffic management operative who tragically lost his life a number of weeks ago, the app will shortly move into a proof of concept period to hone and refine its features.

The app has been developed completely free of charge by Safer Highways member organisation Notify Technology.

Following the anticipated successful open API integration amongst various local authority stakeholders the app will then move to a second stage of testing with the “One Community” on the M25, an alliance made up of principal contractor, Connect Plus Services, Octavious, Jackson Civils, R&W Civils and a number of other Safer Highways members.

Speaking about the progresst, Kevin Robinson, CEO of Safer Highways expressed his gratitude to both Balfour Beatty and Notify Technology for the vital part they are playing in the project.

He said: “Roadworker abuse has long been a blight on our society and sadly is grossly under-reported and seen as just being a part of the job.

“This should not be the case and through the development of a common reporting tool we hope to empower the men and women we put to work each day to not only report but also to challenge abuse.

“In order to do this we need to understand the scale of the problem and our hope is that through the app we will, for the first time be able to do just that. I am grateful to both Balfour Beatty and Notify Technology for their support with the project as we enter what will be the first stage of the deployment.”

At the outset of the trial Phil Clifton, Managing Director of Balfour Beatty said, “At Balfour Beatty we continue to demonstrate our drive to eliminate the abuse and incursions that our workers suffer on an almost daily basis.

“The trial of the Stamp it Out app on our A63 Castle Street Hull project allows us to get both insight into what is really happening and provide data in a form that can help establish trends and priorities to ensure our workforce is protected.

“Working collaboratively with a multitude of partners the app is part of our startegy that really demonstrates to our workforce that we truly care for their wellbeing.”

The app and its back office systems which eventually will utilise Power BI and artificial intelligence have been, by design, rolled out in a measured manner to ensure that we learn from the mistakes of previous systems whilst ensuring we maintain the trust of the employees we ask to test it.

Supporting the comments from Mr Clifton, Freya Wells, Chief Operating Officer of Safer Highways and highlighting the fact that the approach has lead to unprecedented success said.

“We are actually ahead of schedule with our planned deployment, allowing us to bring on stream more contracts sooner than expected.

“As an organisation we are grateful to Balfour Beatty and indeed our operational board joint chair Steve Crofts, the HSES director at the organisation, for ensuring a joined up approach.

“We are also very grateful to Davis McCabe, Head of HSES at Balfour Beatty Living Places, for ensuring a smooth path to deployment in the next phase of Beta testing.”

Following on from a deployment on the Southampton CC contract, the app will then move into a trial phase in Lincolnshire, whilst at the same time being deployed on the M25 following a briefing session on the 19th September.

For more details on the Stamp it Out programme visit www.stampitout.uk