Wensley Rd workers copping abuse
The contractors are dealing with about 10 incidents daily, and 21 “serious incidents” have been reported since the works began last month. Photo: Max Frethey.
Contractors working on Wensley Rd have been copping a significant amount of abuse from members of the public.
Drew Hayes, alliance manager for Downer Group, says that 21 serious incidents have been reported to supervisors at the site.
“Police have also been notified of one serious incident. Our team are dealing with around 10 minor incidents a day.”
While workers at other sites across the district do see incidents of abuse “from time to time”, Drew adds that it is “rarely to the degree” that is being seen at Wensley Rd.
One of the incidents involved the site traffic management supervisor (STMS) asking a driver to turn their vehicle around to avoid running into oncoming traffic.
The driver then drove his vehicle towards the STMS until their front bumper was touching the contractor’s shins.
Most of the abuse received by the workers is swearing and other verbal abuse.
“While there shouldn’t be the need, confrontation and de-escalation training are being rolled out,” Drew added.
Tasman District Council transportation manager Jamie McPherson says the behaviour from some members of the public is “completely unacceptable.”
“Attracting and retaining skilled staff into civil construction is difficult enough without our people being put off by this kind of abuse, and being tempted to take their skills, training and knowledge elsewhere.”
The Wensley Rd works are being done to dig out and replace areas of weak road structure.
Work began on 8 April and was originally meant to take up to four weeks to complete, but the discovery of coal tar on-site has slowed work and pushed the expected completion date out by two weeks until 19 May.
Coal tar must be isolated and separated from the asphalt and gravel layers, stored in a lined bin for testing, and disposed of to a suitable facility. Topsoil layers have also been found below the extent of the dig-outs, requiring much deeper holes to be dug than originally planned.
Roadworks had closed Wensley Rd earlier in February while a new wall and wider footpath were constructed where the council had acquired land.
Two-way traffic was recently reinstated on Wensley Rd between Bateup Rd and Chelsea Drive, while the stretch from Chelsea Drive to Oxford St is still open to southbound only.
