Highways Agency

• Traffic Incident Management Bulletin

March 2007

The Agency recognises the importance of robust and effective communications particularly for those people acting on behalf of the Agency, discharging its integrated incident management function when a combined response is needed.  These people include staff from the service provider community dealing with incidents on our roads as part of the Agency’s incident management family.

There is an increasing demand for direct voice communication using compatible radio systems between the Agency’s traffic officer service and service providers, alongside other emergency and public safety services, when a combined incident response is needed.

We have been considering a number of options to realise direct voice communications with the service provider community.  As a result, the Agency has endorsed the principle of direct radio voice communications for incident management purposes using Airwave as the means of communication.

The Agency has been working closely with the Cabinet Office’s Central Sponsor for Information Assurance (CSIA) as the overseeing body for granting approval and access to the Airwave network.  We have agreed an approach to achieve Airwave capability by prospective users from our service provider community and interworking with the Agency’s traffic officer service, subject to mandatory security and other requirements being met by service providers.  This agreement is explicit that Airwave can be used solely for integrated incident management purposes, it will not be permitted to be used as a platform for all the service provider’s voice communication needs.

Next Steps

We are keen to ensure national consistency and a coordinated approach in developing interworking and interoperability between the traffic officer service and service providers using radio communications.   Clearly, there is a significant amount of work for us to do which includes:

• Talking and listening to service provider representatives to validate the business need for radio voice communications, and substantiate staff population directly involved with integrated incident management.
• Identifying potential operating models for communications and incident management.
• Assessing impact of additional radio voice traffic to ensure a fit for purpose national ‘talkgroup’ structure capable of sustaining existing and future voice traffic between the traffic officer service and service provider community in a cost-effective way.
• Introducing a national ‘call sign’ structure for service providers which complements the current operational working of the traffic officer service, together with training for appropriate use of the radio network and common incident management language.
• Build and evidence how the service provider community will formulate and comply with local handling procedures to meet minimum mandatory requirements set by the CSIA.
• Jointly develop a realistic phased implementation plan (subject to resource availability.)

Timing

From April 07, Dave Elwyn of the Agency’s Traffic Operations Directorate’s Operational Development Team will be the Project Sponsor working closely with the National Technology Team taking this project forward.  Please do not hesitate to contact him if you have any immediate questions about the provision of Airwave to our service providers.

In addition, a working group has been established to support the project as a focal point for Traffic Operations with representation from various interested business areas, and shortly, a service provider representative from the Network Operations Management Group (NOMG) will join this group.

Contact Details

Dave Elwyn can be contacted as follows:

By email:  david.elwyn@highways.gsi.gov.uk
By telephone: 01234 796520;  mobile: 07879 088023
By mail:

David Elwyn
Highways Agency
2nd Floor
Woodlands
Manton Lane
Bedford
MK41 7LW