MVIS is not a company to back down from a challenge. As a responsible supplier to the industry, we have always prioritised quality, safety and good business practices, which is underscored by our membership and accreditations with various awarding bodies.

Last year, we were awarded Gold Status in the Constructionline programme, which offers a platform for thousands of buyers in the construction industry that enforces an ethos of trust and quality amongst its members.

Assessing all members, the Constructionline platform is used by buyers to quickly find suppliers that will enable them to complete a whole range of projects in the industry by providing them with a pool of high-quality suppliers that they can engage with confidently.

This year, we are proud to announce that we have recently been awarded with Platinum Status following a successful audit from Constructionline that assessed all relevant management systems and processes. The audit demonstrated that we are following their procedures and that there are adequate controls in place.

Platinum is the top level of membership within Constructionline, reassuring customers that we adhere to best practice. Our processes and policies were assessed on environmental management, quality management, equal opportunities, modern slavery act adherence and anti-bribery and corruption policies.

Whilst achieving Platinum Status may seem like a high climb for many, for us, it was very achievable, having been already developing these areas for other certifications and of course, our ISO accreditations.

Anne Ashman, UK Group Commercial and Operations Director comments, “Achieving Constructionline Platinum Status is a great accomplishment for us, adding to a long list of accreditations and memberships that help to promote and enforce our commitment to safety, quality and customer service. Constructionline Platinum was a logical next step from Gold, recognising the effort and care that has gone into adhering to Constructionline practices.”

Anne continues, “I am very proud of the whole team for all the work that goes into achieving something like this. Whilst this is a time we should celebrate our success, it’s important that we never lose sight of our continuing mission to improve.” 

Working on any site brings a host of responsibilities to site managers and workers to ensure that they are working safely and responsibly. This is especially true of road construction and in order to keep these standards of safety high, certain projects require stringent policies and training to be adhered to, along with the right qualifications and accreditations to boot.

High speed projects, such as those for National Highways and Tier 1 contractors are an example of such projects, many of them being high profile and affecting a lot of people, from the workers themselves to drivers using the national road network. Because of this, organisations who are required to service these sites are all required to hold the right certifications, which may include CSCS cards or first aid training.

Without having these certifications, workers, delivery drivers and those deploying solutions to the site will not even be permitted entry onto it. This could cause a serious issue for a project, which are often set to strict deadlines and require our solutions for uncompromising safety reasons.

For example, portable VMS could be crucial for a project to help warn drivers that works are being conducted, to give advanced warning of the disruption to the road network, to inform on journey time delays or even to communicate a new speed limit in force. A project that requires portable VMS for one of these reasons may have to be put on hold if the delivery technicians deploying the units don’t have the correct certifications to be permitted on site to deliver them.

Aside from the safety implications during works being conducted, without VMS, there may also be safety concerns in the lead up to a project.

VMS are one of the first things that need to be on site for many projects, displaying safety messages with advanced notification of disruption before work begins. If signs have not been deployed in time because the delivery team have not been permitted entry onto the site, it may cause frustration or confusion amongst drivers when the works do start, which could be potentially dangerous.

And it’s not just a lack of VMS that could cause issues. Many of our solar powered ITS trailer-based solutions are deployed for planning and safety applications in high-speed applications.

For example, our Solar IP unit with integrated HD Data Collection Radar allows site managers to measure and analyse traffic flow, equipping them with the data needed for planning what other safety measures are required when the works go ahead. Likewise, our Solar IP integrated with Low Light CCTV allows site managers to have eyes on the ground at all times, even during the night, offering increased protection and accountability to workers when the project starts.

Without these solutions in place, worker and driver safety may be highly compromised. This could cause a ripple effect along the whole project, which may not be able to even start until the correct solutions have been delivered, costing more time, money and most importantly, leaving roads unsafe for drivers for longer than needed.

Here at MVIS, we understand this all too well. Having worked with the likes of National Highways and Tier 1 contractors for over a decade, we have gained a wealth of invaluable experience that helps us to understand better than most the importance of having the correct certifications and training. Not only this, but we also hold safety as one of our core principals, building it into every aspect of our business operations and consideration.

 

Anne Ashman, UK Group Commercial and Operations Director comments, “The idea of sending a team to a site without the correct certifications is unthinkable for us. MVIS hold one of the best reputations in the industry for high-speed work and this is especially true when it comes to safety.”

However, it doesn’t just stop there. Our Platinum Service Promise outlines what we consider to be ‘Platinum Level Service’ and also highlights just how special our services are. Our sterling reputation exceeds beyond high-speed works, having been providing excellent service to customers on all kinds of projects, no matter the size or customer for many years.

We apply the strictest levels of safety to not only high-speed works, but also urban works, events and any other job we work on, for the safety of our own team, our customers and the general public.

This is why you can trust MVIS to deliver every time.

Regularly working with National Highways, Tier 1 Contractors and Local Authorities, MVIS are a trusted name when it comes to the delivery of ITS solutions across the UK.

As we continue to deliver for clients of all kinds, we have been building on our strong reputation in the industry for customer service and expertise. Due to our focus on portable VMS and specific ITS solutions, our expertise is specialised in our core solutions rather than diluted across many different types of products, like some of our competitors.

This allows us to offer a premium level service for silver level rates and we don’t just cater to big customers. As market leaders, we supply all customers, from high profile schemes to small scale events and basic messaging deployments, we deliver the same level of customer service to all of our customers, no matter how big they are or how big the order is.

Our services don’t just stop at deployment too. Our expertise is often relied upon by customers for consulting purposes regarding how many units are needed, how to best utilise their added-value features and how to provide maximum efficiency for traffic management goals such as traffic flow and safety.

Safety as a concept is of vital importance to us at every step of the company, from our processes and policies to our operations and service – indeed, we have had no reportable incidents of injury in our 9-year history.

This approach is reinforced with a number of accreditations and memberships, leaving no doubt with our clients about what they’re getting when they hire with MVIS. Amongst these include FORS Bronze, Achilles BuildingConfidence membership, Constructionline Gold and ISO accreditations in ISO45001: Occupational Health & Safety, ISO9001: Quality Management Systems and ISO14001: Environmental Management Systems, which come together to make an Integrated Management System (IMS), bringing our systems and processes into one complete framework.

It’s not enough just preaching the importance of safety to our team, however. In order for them to work in a safe environment, everyone needs the relevant skills and training to contribute to this. MVIS provide training for all staff, ensuring that each member of the team is trained and certified in all relevant aspects for everyone to do their job safely, which not only ensures their own safety, but the safety of those around them and for some members of the team, the safety of the general public too.

Internally, we have a programme of Health and Safety training that is ongoing for every operative, in addition to any external training that may be needed for specific projects or for a specific role. For example, all MVIS team members required on-site are CSCS qualified.  

In keeping with our ISO, our responsibilities extend to the environment too. We maintain strong sustainable policies that ensures our carbon footprint is minimised and still reducing as time goes on. A great example of this is our membership with Forest Carbon and their Carbon Club, which allows organisations and businesses an opportunity to address their carbon footprint in a long lasting and effective way.

Purchasing ‘carbon credits’ allows Forest Carbon to plant trees and create new woodlands in the UK on our behalf, which will sequester greenhouse gases from the atmosphere in the years to come.

To make the most of this fantastic opportunity, we are committing to the initiative fully by buying extra credits and planting more trees for any long-term contracts our customers place with us. This has a very powerful effect as time goes on, allowing both MVIS and our customers to help the environment now and in the future, as well as helping to restore habitats for wildlife that is local to the plant sites, increasing biodiversity, protecting against floods and improving river ecosystems.

But it’s perhaps our product offering that has the biggest impact. Offering a suite of solar powered products has an obvious environmental benefit, but when these products are used for applications with an environmental goal, the units become much more than safety solutions.

A recent development, for example, is the ITS Integrated Environmental Sensor, which can be integrated with any of our products and offers clients the ability to monitor and report on air quality. The implications of this on the environment could be huge; the first step in helping to combat levels of pollution is identifying the extent of the pollution. Our ITS Integrated Environmental Sensor allows all our ITS units to work together to serve as a low cost, multi-functional air quality network that passively generates such data whilst serving another safety function.

Together, these aspects contribute to an already strong reputation in the industry for being the best at what we do, and this is only being confirmed with each project that we are trusted with.

As our Major Projects portfolio has increased since our beginnings with the Olympics in 2012, we are repeatedly reminded of the importance of expertise and how vital it is that we remain industry leading specialists in the delivery of solar powered, portable VMS and ITS solutions.

Over the last 9 years we have been serving the UK’s national highway system with our solar powered ITS safety solutions. During this time, we have built up a reputation in the industry for delivering platinum service.

But it’s not just service that we shine on – MVIS are well known for bringing the innovative solutions from sister companies Bartco UK and Bartco AU to the UK market. As Highways schemes begin to pick up again after the devastation of the COVID pandemic, we wanted to take this opportunity to shine a spotlight on the products that have helped us build this reputation in the industry and has helped to keep the UK’s Highways safe for nearly a decade.

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VMS-A

The VMS-A is ideal for urban and inner-city environments of speeds of up to 50mph, however it is commonly used as part of highways projects. As one of our most popular units for traffic management applications, the unit’s smaller footprint provides a tidy option in limited space environments, which can often be very helpful for customers. It can also be used to inform drivers on urban roads that lead to highways about works that may affect them, encouraging them to take a different route or proceed with caution. 

With over 180 VMS-A units in our fleet, the product has become an incredibly reliable ‘go to’ option for a range of projects over the years.

VMS-C

Purpose build for the high-speed network, we also offer the VMS-C, the perfect solution for roads with a speed limit higher than 50mph.

Bigger than the VMS-A, the VMS-C is often a preferred option for highways projects due to it’s larger screen size, making it ideal to communicate with drivers travelling at high speeds, as the larger the screen, the further the viewing distance, which is very important for highspeed roads.

As a result, the VMS-C is a regular sight on the UK’s Highways network, with little wonder due to the 228 units in our fleet, giving us the largest fleet of portable VMS in Europe.

Despite the key difference in these signs being size, they both boast a range of valuable shared features that makes them so effective in high speed applications.

5 Colour Display

Using LED screens allows for a low power solution with maximum brightness for both the VMS-A and VMS-C displays. This helps to ensure that visibility is of the highest priority whilst simultaneously managing power output.

With the ability to show up to 5 different colours, the display allows for red, green, blue and white as well as the highways standard – amber, making our signs perfect for not only messaging but also pictograms or speed roundels.

Solar charging system

Specifically designed for the UK environment, both VMS-A and VMS-C are fitted with solar power units – removing the need for external power.

This more environmentally friendly feature showcases our commitment when it comes to going greener in accordance with our ISO 14001 Environmental Management accreditation.

 

Tilting Solar Panels

Both portable VMS units are designed to make the most out of the available light, allowing for the solar panels to be adjusted so they face the light.

On a technical level, the solar charging system is optimised for the UK by using the most suitable solar panels and solar regulators for our climate.

Units are built with a solar charger per solar panel rather than per unit, so optimal charging capacity is present at all times. This feature allows for maximum battery life efficiency and extended run times.

 

Radar Integration

All our VMS units have an integrated data collection radar that allows for them to display vital messages, speed alerts and responsive information, triggered by driver’s speed, using tried and tested traffic control solutions to positively influence driver behaviour.

The units discreetly house the radar that can also collect information on speed, time and date, making this solution a low cost alternative to many data collection solutions on the market and is ideal to be used as a data source for the analysis of traffic trends, enabling greater intelligence for planning projects of all kinds.

It may also help with highways construction site safety, allowing users to identify traffic trends with risk, such as speed or volume of traffic, and therefore take steps to combat it.

 

Environmental Sensor

The ITS Integrated Environmental Sensor can be combined with any of our ITS solutions to offer clients the ability to monitor the external environment, producing a wide range of air pollution data that can be used to inform and direct on issues of air pollution safety.

This solution is a low-cost system that offers the ability to build a high-density ambient air quality monitoring network that records data in real-time.

Perfect for temporary applications, this solution offers a very low cost alternative to static Air Quality monitoring stations and allow clients to cover more space, quickly and cost effectively. This is important for high speed construction applications as levels of pollution are often a concern for major projects, as is budget. 

 

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NTIS DATEX II Portable Journey Time Variable Message Sign Solution

Created in partnership with Highways England (HE), the NTIS DATEX II Portable Journey Time Solution generates real-time journey time information for road users using data from the National Traffic Information Service (NTIS).

The system was the first such solution on the market to enable real-time journey time information from the NTIS to be displayed on a portable VMS.

The NTIS DATEX II Portable Journey Time displays Highways England compliant journey time information, which is refreshed every five minutes, on any number of VMS C’s along major project schemes that are over four kilometres in length. This helps to keep road users informed of the travel time to the end of the road works. Congestion or delays are identified within tens of metres of their vicinity ensuring the messages displayed are relevant to the area affected.

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Works Egress Safety Solution

The VMS-C also plays a crucial part in our Works Egress Safety Solution, which offers increased safety for not just the general public but also works traffic that merges from a works egress onto a high-speed road. The role of the VMS C in this solution is to inform upcoming drivers that works traffic will be merging, giving them plenty of warning, and so helping to minimise the risk.

The VMS-A can also do this on a high speed road if there is limited space on-site or the speed limit has been lowered to 50 due to the works.

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Solar IP

The Solar IP is a highly versatile and functional unit that offers users the ability to mount and power their own technology, bringing portability to technology that is usually fixed due to power constraints.

The unit brings a lot to safety, security and site management applications, allowing for the integration of technologies such as CCTV and IVD data collection radars to name but a few, making these technologies portable and bringing benefit to highways applications.

The crowing feature of this product however is its solar credentials. A trailer based power bank is an attractive solution on its own, but when considering the environmentally friendly power output, it may even be a preferred solution to fixed power, if the long term environmental impact of the installation is a consideration for the client, for example.

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For more information about how our products can support highways works, please contact us via our contact form.

Alternatively, you can email us via sales@m-vis.co.uk.

 

Roads are known to have a mixture of positive and negative effects on the environment and the people who use them. Offering infrastructure benefits in terms of ease of mobility and other transport advantages, we use roads to get us – and our goods – to destinations safely. However, the very same roads take up valuable land, creating barriers for wildlife and can permanently change a landscape into something unrecognisable from what it once was.

One of the most damaging effects of roads, however, are that they invite traffic, which brings with it air pollution. This pollution can cause serious issues to surrounding areas and even jeopardise the health of nearby residents. It can also cause issues for those who are required to work outside, such as road or utility construction workers, who also have the added complication of dealing with potentially high levels of dust too.

But how are workers supposed to know when levels of air quality drop to a dangerous level?

This is where we come in.

Two recent solutions developed by MVIS’ sister company, Bartco UK and intelligent tracking solutions specialists, Iknaia help to provide workers with live data that can report on levels of air quality for a wide range of pollutants. With this data, site managers and workers can monitor in real time the air quality around them, allowing them to minimise the long-term damage that may be caused by implementing safety measures such as distributing PPE when required.

One of these solutions, the Compact Environmental Sensor, serves as a passive air quality monitoring station with a small footprint, meaning it doesn’t take up much valuable space on-site. Being solar powered by our ‘Compact’ base, this unit requires no external power supply and offers a very low-cost alternative to static Air Quality monitoring stations, allowing clients to cover more space in a cost-effective way.

The ITS Integrated Environmental Sensor offers many of the same benefits, however, what makes this product special is its capability to integrate with any of our solar powered ITS solutions, creating a multifunctional unit that can perfectly compliment most road construction projects.

A good example of this is when the Environmental Sensor is integrated with our range of portable VMS. In deploying this solution, site managers can increase safety even more, by using the VMS to raise awareness of the construction project that is underway.

Moreover, the same solution can be deployed in the lead up to any scheduled works, giving roads users plenty of warning that there will be disruption, as well as collecting air quality data beforehand, allowing site managers to implement risk mitigation strategies prior to the works being carried out, helping to keep their workers safe.

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For more information about our Environmental Sensor or if you would like to know more about how you can use our products to help with parking, please contact us via our contact form.

Alternatively, you can email us via sales@m-vis.co.uk.