When you arrive on a site to start work your first action must always be to do a Streetworks Site Specific Risk Assessment this will help you decide on a number of key things such as pedestrian management, placement of signs and barriers and how to manage vehicles passing the site. The Safety Code uses the term “unobstructed width” which means the amount of road width available for vehicles to pass the works and each other.

MINIMUM WIDTHS TWO WAY WORKING

Standard: Normal traffic including buses and HGVs = 6.75M

Restricted: Cars and Light Vehicles only = 5.5m

ANYTHING LESS THAN THE ABOVE AND YOU WILL HAVE TO INSTALL A TRAFFIC CONTROL METHOD

If you need a traffic control method you have two more choices to make:

PASSIVE – The traffic looks after itself – GIVE & TAKE, PRIORITY

POSITIVE – The traffic is controlled after bringing it to a stop – STOP & GO, PORTABLE SIGNALS or ROAD CLOSURE

This Bulletin focusses on Give & Take Traffic Control Measures

Traffic control by 'give and take' for roads with a speed limit of 30mph or less

You can use ‘give and take’ only when all of the following apply:

• the speed limit is 30 mph or less
• the length of the works from first cone to last cone is 50 metres or less
• drivers approaching from either direction can see 50 metres beyond the end of the works
• two-way traffic flow is no more than 20 vehicles counted over 3 minutes (400 veh/h)
• no more than 20 heavy goods vehicles pass the works per hour

If you cannot comply with this, then you need to look at the next measure in the hierarchy PRIORITY

Do's and Don'ts

• DO Your Streetworks Site Specific Risk Assessment
• DO Measure your actual available road width, do not guess it
• DO Check the road speed as Give and Take currently cannot be used above 30mph
• DO A vehicle count over 3 minutes
• DO Double check what your permit states for the works if it does not state Give and Take then you need to get the office to update the permit NOW!
• DON’T Use Give and Take on roads over 30mph
• DON’T Forget to update the permit it could cost £120 if you don’t
• DON’T Forget that the Road Narrows must have a “SINGLE FILE TRAFFIC” plate on the bottom when using Give & Take  

HAUC(UK) thanks Morrison Water Services in their help in the creation of this guidance.

IF YOU ARE IN ANY DOUBT, CONTACT YOUR SUPERVISOR FOR FURTHER ADVICE

DO HIGHWAYS THE RIGHTWAYS