Safer Highways looks forward to a stronger future as a Community Interest Company

Safer Highways CEO outlines his vision for a future where the organisation continues to make a difference to the people in our sector.

Safer Highways CEO Kevin Robinson sets out the organisation's vision for the next 12 months-its first year as a Community Interest Company (CIC).

Moving to a CIC means all member companies now own a stake in the organisation and will give a greater degree of clarity around governance.

Despite this being a major change for the organisation, members will still receive the same benefits as before.

Speaking to Insight he explains why the organisation should deviate from its previous trajectory and what his and the board's vision is for the future.

So What is a Community Interest Company and what does it mean for the membership?

In short a community interest company is nothing more than a limited charity with a number of Directors/ Trustees responsible for the financial governance of the organisation. There are a number of criteria which the organisation must meet in order to maintain its status, and these will be the responsibility of its board to ensure they continue to be met.

A CIC allows the organisation to continue to deliver its social value imperatives whilst offering clarity around governance and crucially allow the organisation to attract external funding to deliver its imperatives.

The new organisation is called Safer Infrastructure and Transportation, does this mean that Safer Highways no longer exists?

Absolutely not; Safer Highways, as has always been the case, is and will continue to be the driving force within our sector delivering projects and programmes for the benefit of the people we put to work each day.

The rationale behind calling the CIC Safer Infrastructure and Transportation was very simple; much of the work we do and the programmes we develop are relevant across the whole of the infrastructure space and as such we felt a more inclusive name was far more appropriate.

For example our Stamp it Out programme is already being embedded within the rail sector by the Transpennine Route upgrade and within the broader construction space by none other than the Palace of Westmisnter refurbishment works.

From a members perspective what do the changes mean?

In short, nothing, membership - due to the cost of living crisis - has been frozen at the current rate until further notice. Realistically we couldn't ask people to pay more at a time when they are all seeing a squeeze on finances and face difficult decisions within their own organisations.

The Safer Highways way has always been to decide whether a project or programme deserves to be explored and latterly then to ensure we put finance in place to deliver on our mandate.

This will always, as long as I am a part of the organisation, been our primary imperative; its about what we do and the difference we make which defines us, not only as individuals but also as organisations.

So will there be changes to the structure?

Undoubtedly, over time there will be organic changes, that is just natural as any organisation grows. When I was asked by the supply chain (initially in 2015) and upon its formation in 2017 we had 20 committed members, we now have in excess of 100.

It was always our intent that, should the organisation survive and thrive, it would need to evolve.

The initial plan, under our previous chair, Martin Worthington, was that this should happen in 2020 - then the small matter of Covid happened and we as a group decided that in order to not only survive, but also thrive, we needed to maintain the status quo.

Over those two years our membership and engagement grew exponentially and we now find ourselves in a position where we have a massive influence across the sector.

Next year will see efforts increased on the Stamp It Out Campaign, set up to eradicate road worker abuse.

Recently the programme reached another milestone, with the rollout of the Stamp it Out app as Lincolnshire Highways became the second local authority to adopt the system for the reporting of abuse and incursions.

The groundbreaking Stamp it Out app, designed to enable all those who work within the transportation sector to report abuse and incursions is now into a first phase deployment with Balfour Beatty with the A63 Castle Street contact being the first to adopt it, closely followed by Balfour Beatty Living Places in Southampton and then the M25 one community.

The next 12 months will see members receive free access to fully interactive conflict management training.

Also in 2023 the organisation will be developing a free-to-access suicide prevention programme as well as continuing to build on our reputation as the organisation that promotes and communicates all things health, safety and wellbeing in a strong, cohesive manner but still in a way that means it can be flexible and agile as an organisation and in a position to react and respond to industry developments.

We will also be continuing its efforts to help members provide social value through the work they do, as well as a new programme focused on men’s health.

This will be done by the appointment of a memberships and administrations officer allowing both the board and myself to focus on the key areas we are strong in delivering.

IN SHORT THE TRANSITION TO A CIC WILL MEAN NOTHING APART FROM GIVING OUR MEMBERS A GREATER SAY IN THE DIRECTION OF THE ORGANISATION GOING FORWARD IN ORDER THAT WE BECOME MORE PROGRESSIVE AND CONTINUE TO DELIVER ON THE VAlUES WHICH MADE US SO STRONG.