Dear Sir or Madam, I am writing to request what the job of an
incident support unit crew member entails?

Yours faithfully,

Ben,

Dear Ben,

Thank you for your email of 21 July 2008 about what the job of an
Incident Support Unit (ISU) crew member entails.

The purpose of an ISU is to minimise disruption to road users by
providing a safe and timely response to incidents and quicker clearance
of blocked lanes.

Whilst many different types of incidents occur on our Network, there are
a number of basic functions, defined below, which can be carried out by
an ISU at the scene of most incidents.

The primary functions of ISUs are to:

(i) Make the incident scene safer through the application of emergency

traffic management,

(ii) Relieve congestion and remove hazards to safety by the clearance of

debris from traffic lanes and hardshoulders,

(iii) Undertake repairs to highway infrastructure damaged as a result of
an

incident,

(iv) Assess the scene and secure the attendance of additional or
specialist

resources where the task is beyond the ISU's capabilities,

(v) Provide a communications link between the incident site and our
service

provider's network control centre, or its equivalent.

When not engaged in fulfilling the primary functions, the ISU can be
employed on secondary functions such as:

(i) Patrolling, monitoring and reporting on the network,

(ii) Undertaking routine maintenance,

(iii) Making safe defects to the highway infrastructure.

providing that these functions do not compromise the response to
incidents and can be safely interrupted to meet required response times.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you require any further
information.

Yours Sincerely,

Malcolm

Malcolm Cowie
Highways Agency | 5 Broadway | Broad Street | Birmingham | B15 1BL
Tel: +44 (0) 121 6788081 | Fax: + 44 (0) 121 6874133
Web: http://www.highways.gov.uk
GTN: 6189 8081

Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers
Highways Agency, an Executive Agency of the Department for Transport.

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