According to the Health and Safety Executive’s 2023 Vehicles and Edge Protection guidance, transport accounts for 40% of accidents and 60% of deaths in quarries. While quarry transport safety has long been an HSE priority, the organisation believes that it has yet to be effectively addressed by the industry.
SRL’s patented, award-winning* Haul Route PLUS facilitates the safety of drivers at plant crossing points while promoting the efficient flow of traffic. The only plant crossing solution integrating adaptive detection technology incorporates traffic signals that respond to the actual flow of quarry vehicles rather than operating to timings set to accommodate the slowest plant. An all-red facility ensures that barriers remain open until plant is safely across the junction.
This year, SRL incorporated the RiseMaster HE fully autonomous solar-powered automatic boom barrier (patent pending) into Haul Route PLUS to enable managers of longer-term projects to benefit from the solution.
The robust, freestanding barrier features a continuous flanged post of high-strength steel. Haul Route PLUS is also available with INSTABOOM protection barriers for shorter-term deployments and can include variable message signs (VMS) and CCTV. All components are solar/hybrid.
Within quarry perimeters, barriers are used in conjunction with full-colour, high-resolution VMS, signals, CCTV and ANPR to promote on-site safety. Bespoke integrated solutions limit access to specific areas such as tips and excavations to authorised vehicles and separate visitor traffic from plant and pedestrians. They limit the quantity of vehicles on often narrow, single-lane haul routes, minimising the risk of collision and the need for reversal. They also permit traffic management where HGVs and cars need to cross, where only one-way traffic is feasible and where pedestrians need to traverse haul routes.
Products may also be used in isolation. VMS alert drivers to speed limits and those of HGV vehicles to maximum height restrictions on routes with edge protections.
As well as promoting the safety of drivers, SRL solutions are designed to minimise the time that quarry staff and SRL maintenance teams need to spend in near proximity to live traffic lanes. Solar/hybrid equipment requires infrequent battery exchange, while Eurolight signals may be controlled remotely from a position of safety via the Euro Remote Control.
All products feature a robust design to guard against accidental damage and have been created to perform reliably even in harsh weather conditions.
SRL’s business development director Iain McDonald said: “SRL has been developing innovative solutions designed to promote the safety and efficiency of the UK and RoI’s road network and construction sites for over 25 years. Hillhead marks our official entry into the aggregates sector, where our goal is to enable quarry managers to improve safety and reduce accidents, safeguarding employees and visitors alike.”
SRL offers the industry’s largest distribution network of over 30 depots and is the only ITS manufacturer available to customers on-site 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Products are available both for sale and for hire.
For further details, please go to srl.co.uk, hillhead.com/exhibitors/srl-traffic-systems or visit SRL at Hillhead on stand D12.
*2023 Highways Awards Product of the Year
