A Cleveland Bridge Construction Manager working on the major M4 upgrade programme has been praised for his quick reactions to come to the aid of a lorry driver involved in a serious road accident.
Chris McHutchison, who is the Construction Manager responsible for installing 11 bridges along 32 miles of the M4 between London and Reading, was first on the scene when a lorry ploughed into the rear of an articulated lorry that had broken down underneath one of the motorway’s existing bridges just minutes before.
He immediately went to the scene of the accident and gave first aid to the driver of the second lorry, providing assistance and support. He remained with the driver until the emergency services arrived shortly afterwards, including a surgical team with the Thames Valley Air Ambulance.
During this time, Chris also directed other road users and personnel working on the site to rig up lighting to better illuminate the accident site, make necessary calls to emergency services and maintain the scene until further help arrived.
Following the incident, Chris returned to his duties and led the Cleveland Bridge team to complete the installation of one of the new bridges and its hand-back ahead of programme.
Chris said: “I initially got in touch with our management team to let them know there would be a delay to the works while the first lorry was recovered from under the bridge, but 20 minutes later the second vehicle smashed into the artic. My instincts kicked in and I rushed straight over to see if I could help.
Chris continued: “It was a very traumatic scene, but I knew I needed to stay calm and help out the injured driver until the emergency services arrived. I also want to thank everyone else at the scene who helped and for the speedy response of the emergency services.”
Chris Droogan, Managing Director of Cleveland Bridge, said: “Throughout this traumatic event Chris showed the highest levels of professionalism and courage. We are extremely proud of him and his actions to not only stay calm enough to give his attention to the injured driver, but also to take control of the situation until paramedics arrived. Chris is a credit to Cleveland Bridge and represents the true values of the people we have in our business.”