Proposed Changes to Street Works Safety Guidance: What Contractors Need to Know
The Department for Transport has opened a consultation on proposed changes to the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice, the statutory guidance covering how street and road works should be signed, lit and guarded.
The current version dates back to 2013. Since then, legislation, working practices and expectations around road-user safety have changed considerably. For highways contractors, utility companies and civil engineering businesses, the consultation is worth following because the draft gives a useful indication of where street works safety requirements may be heading.
The consultation opened on 21 September 2026 and closes on 14 December 2026.
Why is the code being updated?
Street works have to balance the safety of the workforce with the needs of motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, residents and businesses. This becomes more difficult where work takes place on busy roads, narrow footways or locations where normal pedestrian and cycle routes are disrupted.
The Code of Practice sets out how works should be managed, including requirements and guidance around traffic control, signs, lighting, guarding and pedestrian access.
The Department for Transport says the proposed revision reflects changes in legislation, traffic-sign requirements, inclusive mobility guidance and the way street works are now carried out. The draft has been developed alongside Transport Scotland, the Welsh Government and the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, with input from the industry and the Health and Safety Executive.
What could change?
One of the main areas covered by the draft is the protection of pedestrians, cyclists and other vulnerable road users.
There is revised guidance around maintaining safe pedestrian routes through or around works, including temporary walkways and situations where normal footway space is restricted. The proposed code also provides more detail on arrangements affecting cycle routes and clearer guidance for road closures.
Accessibility is another important theme. Contractors may need to consider more carefully how works affect disabled people and others who could find temporary routes difficult to use.
The draft also expands guidance around mobile and short-duration works, together with work carried out near level crossings and tramways.
Another proposed change concerns the language used throughout the code. The Department for Transport wants to draw a clearer distinction between legal duties, mandatory requirements and general guidance. For contractors, that distinction matters because it should make it easier to understand which elements must be followed and where there is flexibility in how a safe result is achieved.
What does this mean for contractors?
Nothing changes immediately, as the document is still under consultation and the final version may differ from the current draft. However, the proposals are a useful reminder of how much evidence can be involved in managing even relatively routine street works.
For contractors running multiple works at the same time, the challenge is keeping a reliable record of what was checked at each site and what happened when something needed correcting.
That record may need to show the site set-up, signing and guarding, pedestrian arrangements, photographs, identified issues, who was responsible for corrective work and when it was completed. Managing this across one location may be relatively simple, but across dozens or hundreds of active jobs it becomes much harder to control consistently.
The problem is often not the inspection
Most contractors already have processes for checking sites. The difficulty is often keeping all the information connected.
An inspection might be recorded on a paper form, while photographs are stored separately. A problem may be reported by email or phone, with the eventual corrective action recorded somewhere else. The information exists, but producing a complete record of what happened can take time.
A digital process can bring those records together so that the inspection, location, photographs, identified problem and resulting action all form part of the same job record.
If something needs correcting, the action can remain linked to the original inspection until it has been completed. For HSEQ and operational teams, that also makes it easier to see which sites have been checked, where issues remain outstanding and whether corrective work has been closed out.
Recording the evidence while the work is happening
A mobile process can make this easier to manage because the record is created at the site rather than reconstructed afterwards.
WorkMobile allows businesses to build digital processes that field teams complete using a phone or tablet. For street works, that could include:
job or permit reference
location
date and time
photographs of the site
signing and guarding checks
pedestrian and cycle arrangements
identified defects or concerns
corrective actions
completion or sign-off
The information can then be available to the office without somebody having to re-enter forms or gather photographs from different locations.
This can be particularly useful where a contractor has several teams working across a wide geographical area. Managers can see what has been recorded in the field, while site teams follow a consistent process for capturing the information required.
Processes can change with the guidance
One advantage of using configurable digital forms is that the process does not have to remain fixed.
If the final Code of Practice introduces new checks or changes the way certain information needs to be recorded, the mobile process can be updated. The same applies when a contractor changes its own procedures following an audit, incident or client requirement.
This also helps avoid the situation where outdated paper forms continue to circulate after a process has changed.
A sensible time to review current processes
The proposed changes are still being consulted on, so contractors do not need to redesign their street works processes today. But for HSEQ, highways and street works teams, now is a sensible time to review how those processes are recorded.
The key issue is not simply whether site checks are taking place. It is whether the business can easily demonstrate what was checked, what evidence was captured, what issues were identified and what happened next.
As street works guidance develops, having that information connected and readily available is likely to become more important.
The Department for Transport consultation, Updating the Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice, remains open until 14 December 2026.
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