Published
This blog accompanies our podcast Still Our Responsibility: Embedding CLOCS and Safer Logistics Into Major Projects and features insights from Kate Cairns and Andy Brooke of CLOCS — two leading advocates for transforming construction logistics safety.
Together, they shine a light on a critical but often overlooked issue: the disproportionate risk our major projects create on the roads beyond the site boundary. Drawing on lived experience, industry leadership and over a decade of campaigning, Kate and Andy explain how CLOCS is reshaping the sector’s approach to safer logistics, inspiring smarter planning, shared responsibility and safer journeys for everyone.
What is a major blind spot in many major infrastructure projects? What is a hugely disproportionate risk that often does not feature on any risk register? Do we really mean that safety is our biggest priority?
Our infrastructure projects result in four times as many deaths off site than on site – fatalities under the wheels of our construction vehicles. One Chartered Civil Engineer knows this only too well: Kate Cairns, whose sister Eilidh was run down from behind by a fully laden tipper lorry in 2009. The same driver went on to run down a pedestrian 15 months later. (More of this in our podcast). Kate says:
“Major projects create our cities, our infrastructure, the fabric of our society — but with creation comes responsibility: Every new building, road or regeneration project depends on heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) to deliver materials to and from our sites. Yet those same journeys bring grossly disproportionate risk to people on our streets — those walking, cycling, scooting or travelling by motorbike. A person is likely to be killed if hit by an HGV travelling at even 2mph, because of its size, mass and huge blind spots.”
That’s where CLOCS — Construction Logistics and Community Safety — comes in. Kate spent over a decade calling for change through the See Me Save Me campaign which challenged industry, policy makers and the justice system to do better. The results were a change in European law on cab design, which will come into force in 2029 – twenty years since her sister’s death, as well as the industry coming together in 2012 to tackle this specific risk related to construction vehicles, particularly skippers, tippers and concrete mixers.
So CLOCS came about, a world-first award-winning standard designed by industry to manage our construction logistics risk. It moves beyond compliance to reshape how the industry thinks about safety, congestion, air quality and community impact. By working together, clients, contractors, planners and fleet operators can make construction logistics cleaner, smarter and safer for everyone.
Raising the standard for everyone
As construction activity grows, so does vehicle movement — and with it, the potential for harm. CLOCS challenges the industry to see logistics through a wider lens: not just about deadlines or deliveries but about the people whose daily lives intersect with our projects.
As Kate questions in our podcast:
“Isn’t complacency about this known risk with such catastrophic consequences the antithesis of social value?”
The consequences of road collisions are deeply human — emotional loss, family trauma, financial strain. The industry has made huge strides in reducing on-site fatalities; CLOCS extends that same commitment to the public realm, ensuring safety doesn’t stop at the hoarding.
From obligation to leadership
UK health and safety law already makes it clear: duty of care extends beyond the workforce to the wider community. CLOCS transforms that legal expectation into practical action.
By joining, organisations move from mere compliance to genuine leadership — proving that doing the right thing isn’t just a moral choice, it’s a professional benchmark.
Inside the CLOCS approach
CLOCS sets itself apart through a holistic, joined-up approach to logistics safety. It’s not a checklist or one-off audit — it’s a culture shift embedded across the supply chain, and it starts at the top.
- Identifying risk – raising awareness of all parties in the construction process – from CEO to truck driver – of the specific and hugely disproportionate risk that construction logistics pose.
- Understanding influence – Each stakeholder throughout the supply chain has a role to play, from client, procurer and planner – way before there is even a spade in the ground or a vehicle on the road – to the contractor and fleet operator.
- Responsible procurement – adoption of specifications within procurement to ensure safe logistics standards are set out in tender and procurement contracts and a competent supply chain is appointed.
- Strategic planning – Local Authority requirement of a robust and rigorous construction logistics plan (CLP) as part of the planning process including agreed mitigation measures such as alternative modes, consolidation, designated routes, avoiding peak-hour congestion and areas of high risk to the public. CLOCS CLP training has empowered hundreds of diverse stakeholders to implement best practice risk reduction, collaboration and communication. The CLOCS Train the Trainer initiative has empowered thousands of traffic marshals to ensure safe site access and egress.
- Safer vehicles – CLOCS-compliant vehicles with preference for low-entry direct-vision cabs with elimination of traditional huge blindspots, proven to prevent collisions and save lives. Also 360° visibility aids, sensors, underun guards and turning alarms.
- Safer drivers – competent and trained drivers with medical and eyesight checks and participation in Safer Urban Driver training which includes a session on a bicycle increasing empathy and understanding with other road users. Driver feedback shows the vast majority drastically improve their understanding and change their attitude to people on bikes.
- Safer operations – encouragement of implementation, monitoring and enforcing compliance through the supply chain, via communication and collaboration, ensuring the intent and vision at project inception is realised through the construction process and all parties are incentivised and committed to adopting best practice.
Together, these elements create a culture of shared accountability — from clients, planners and contractors to the drivers behind the wheel.
Building trust beyond the site
When CLOCS is embedded, communities feel the difference: fewer collisions, cleaner air, calmer traffic and more confidence in the construction process. By integrating safety and responsibility into every delivery, contractors build not only projects but public trust.
Evolving for the future
CLOCS has already redefined what best practice looks like, but progress doesn’t stop here. As active travel increases, and we press for more sustainable cities many are still unaware of the huge risk their projects pose and the best practice necessary to reduce it – so raising awareness is ongoing. As urban areas grow denser, CLOCS offers a blueprint for cities around the world: proof that growth and safety can coexist.
Be part of the change
CLOCS isn’t just a standard — it’s a shared commitment.
Becoming a CLOCS Champion demonstrates leadership, sustainability, and care for the communities that construction serves. Members gain access to practical tools, training and a network of forward-thinking professionals driving safer logistics across the industry.
Lead the way. Build responsibly. Make every journey count.
Visit www.clocs.org.uk.
Authors
Following a personal tragedy Kate campaigned for over a decade to inspire and collaborate with an enormous range of (sometimes reluctant) stakeholders resulting in change to legislation, policy and standards at local, national and European level to make our streets safer for active travelers.
She has led the instigation and evolution of a ‘world-first’ industry standard (CLOCS), to reduce the risk of construction vehicles, the biggest deterrent to cyclists. Kate has embedded CLOCS into Local Authority policy both as a Councillor and now through delivery of the CLOCS Training.
Kate has led strategy and standards with the Institution of Civil Engineers creating a world-first standard in sustainability for infrastructure; chairing the Fairness Inclusion & Respect Committee producing a range of best practice; serving on the nomination committee and Council. As a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor at Durham University she lectured on Embedding Sustainability and Inclusion into Engineering.
As well as CLOCS Ambassador and Trainer, Kate is a professional speaker, advisor and consultant helping clients realise the business synergies of sustainability, safety and inclusivity. She advises on major projects across the UK and Europe.
Kate has featured on national TV, radio, broadsheets, and in trade press and podcasts.
Prior to joining CLOCS, Andy served as General Manager of the Considerate Constructors Scheme, where he spent over a decade working in close partnership with contractors, clients, local authorities and communities to raise standards and minimise the impact of construction activity.
Bringing this wealth of collaborative experience to CLOCS, Andy leads a diverse stakeholder community – encompassing clients, principal contractors, specialist contractors, fleet operators, vehicle manufacturers and regulators – united in the shared mission to eliminate deaths and serious injuries caused by construction-related transport.
He is passionate about ensuring every CLOCS member derives clear value from their participation, fostering genuine commitment to higher standards and building trusted, lasting relationships across the sector. Under his leadership, CLOCS continues to drive measurable improvements in vehicle safety, driver welfare, vulnerable road user protection and community impact, creating the conditions for the safest possible construction logistics journeys.
Andy remains dedicated to the vision of a construction industry where work-related road risk is comprehensively managed and no life is lost on our roads.