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He Didn’t Have His Snickers HI-VIS Jacket on!

What was just an average working day turned into nightmare, it all began a few weeks ago when the boss introduced us all in the works cabin to his young nephew Joe’s who he said was going to start as our apprentice, Our job can be extremely dangerous as we are motorway Maintenance men so bringing a new person on the team especially a young lad can be quite challenging as they must be able to listen to the health and safety aspect of the job and not argue or question it as there life and others around them can be put at risk. Simple thing like making sure you have your Snickers HI-VIS jacket or waistcoat on are extremely important in keeping you safe, while working on the motorways visibility is the main safety concern at all times.

It was Joe’s first day so we had to put him through his health and safety, I could tell instantly we were going to have a few problems with this lad as he was just not taking notice of what was being said and seemed more bothered messing about with his trainers that he had on, after the health and safety talk it was time to kit him out in a Snickers HI-VIS jacket to his disapproval, ‘’I don’t have to wear that thing do I’’ yes I said the motorway is a very dangerous place and we need you to be visible at all times, and you can take that I pod out of your ears for a start because there defiantly not allowed while we are working, then the famous line came that I had been waiting for, ‘’listen do you know who my uncle is’’ yes I said he is my boos but unfortunately for you I’m your boss and what I say goes our you don’t work here, ‘’ we will see he cocky replied’’ after begrudgingly putting his Snickers HI-VIS jacket on rolling up his pants and taking his I pod out of his ears it was time to go show young Joe what we were working on.

We drove to the site where we were working it was on the outside lane under a bridge that the barrier had been damaged due to a previous car accident the day before, we had the lane conned off and traffic were using the other 2 lanes while we repaired it, this happened at night as there is less traffic on the road which means less inconvenience for the motorist but it also means its more dangerous for us because there is less visibility hence the need to wear Snickers HI-VIS clothing, keep your jacket on I reiterated to Joe this is going to be dangerous work, ‘’Yeah Yeah I’ve heard you came back the reply.

It was getting late around about midnight and we were busy working away on the barrier when I asked Joe to go to the works van and fetch me some tools I needed for the job, 10 minutes passed and I heard the sound you never want to hear screams and a loud crash, I rushed over to the direction it came from near the works van and found a car had hit young Joe, as I looked at him screaming I noticed he had took his HI-VIS Snickers jacket off and put in his I pod, I called the ambulance and police to take care of Joe, but all the driver kept repeating was, ‘’I never saw him’’