O’Donovan Waste Disposal, London’s leading independent waste management company, has been inspiring and educating school children this week, as part of the City of London Corporation’s Road Safety Day at Sir John Cass’s Foundation Primary School on Tuesday.
As part of the company’s commitment to CSR, O’Donovan represented the construction industry by bringing the Exchanging Placesprogramme to the school – giving children the opportunity to learn about the relationship between cyclists and HGVs on London’s busy roads.
Exchanging Places is run by the Met Police and City Police, putting cyclists in the cab of a lorry to help them view the road from the perspective of the driver – encouraging collaboration, mutual learning and understanding.
Throughout the day, 180 children – aged between 5-11 years old – took part in both classroom and playground-based activities designed to teach them the importance of road safety and the work that is being done to ensure safe logistics operations on London’s roads.
In addition to Exchanging Places, the children got involved in activities including cycle skills, road safety quizzes and magic tricks.
O’Donovan provided two lorries for the children to experience – a Leyland AEC, from 1966 and a current Scania High Cab Roll on off lorry, to show the children first-hand how innovation has led to improved safety features in lorries to keep vulnerable road users safer. O’Donovan Logistics Supervisor Paul Neal and Fleet Risk Manager Liam Clement-Smith were on hand to educate the children and show them around the respective lorries.
O’Donovan is leading the way in road safety, recently unveiling the ground-breaking Mercedes Benz Econic 4×2 skip loader 1830L with previously unseen safety features, offering the driver an unparalleled view of vulnerable road users. As a CLOCS Champion, O’Donovan is taking resolute steps and encouraging cultural change to reduce the road danger posed by construction industry vehicles.
O’Donovan managing director, Jacqueline O’Donovan, said:
“We were delighted to take part in the valuable Road Safety Day hosted by City of London. It’s vital that we educate children about road safety and, as a progressive company known for bold decisions, we are keen to ensure we are making the best choices to help further protect vulnerable road users – and this includes an education process for the younger generation. We continue to make significant ongoing investments in our fleet and drivers to ensure that we are in the best possible position to do this.”
City of London Corporation Road Safety Officer, Sheila Moules, said:
“It was a pleasure to invite O’Donovan Waste to the Sir John Cass School for our Road Safety Day, I know all 180 children were delighted to sit in the cabs of the lorries and learn about safety on the City’s roads.
“Working with our partners, like O’Donovan, helps us at the City of London Corporation deliver our Road Safety aims and make the city streets safer for all users.”
