During the course of a safety audit in Hertfordshire, TMS safety auditors Harminder Aulak and Mark Steventon came across a novel swale drainage system for a new large residential development. The system is designed to capture rainwater using a sustainable drainage system along the primary infrastructure “green corridor” roads, rather than a traditional closed gulley system which discharges into storm sewers.

The principle of the open grass swales is to retain as much surface water on the site as possible to achieve the Environment Agency’s requirement of keeping runoff from the site at its current level.

The open grass swales are positioned between the carriageway and footway, with surface water channeled into the system by providing lowered kerbs. A photograph of the system is shown to the left.

Steve Proctor, an Honorary Associate at TMS Consultancy, recently chaired a Passive Safety Workshop in Solihull, organised by UK Roads. Passively safe products are designed to be more forgiving if struck by vehicles, reducing the risk of death or serious injury to road users.

The event was attended by Harminder Aulak and Robert Cyples, technical engineers at TMS Consultancy, who said:

“The workshop provided valuable advice regarding the upcoming passive safety classification standard EN 12767:2019. It is important that engineers consider factors such as speed, energy absorption, occupant safety, post backfill type, pole collapse type, direction of impact and vehicle roof indentation when specifying passively safe products. We will need to be aware of these issues when carrying out road safety audits, safety assessments and accident studies.”