We caught up with Caron Ashworth, Streetworks Coordinator on the Agility Alliance contract to find out more about her role.
I’ve been a part of the Agility Alliance since we TUPEed over from Cappagh-Browne in 2015, and I’ve worked with the Murphy team for over 10 years. I work closely with a variety of people from the planning, enabling, scheduling, Streetworks, and operational teams, all of whom help me in reducing Streetwork related costs as much as possible. It is wonderful to be able to collaborate with such a broad collection of people on a daily basis, each contributing their own set of skills and expertise to the Repair and Maintenance (R&M) team.
My typical day starts with me reviewing several days’ worth of planned, reactive, and currently active information. The Streetworks team, of which I am a member, performs a variety of tasks, ranging from registrations (patch data for reinstatement) to starting and closing permits.
My goal is to reduce costs associated with Streetworks as much as possible by completing several checks daily, including checking if permit conditions are correct and granted on Street Manager (Streetworks database for permits), as well as dates are correct for other provisions in place, for instance a bus stop suspension is in place for the duration of works. I act as a support function for the planning team and will inform them if permits are revoked.
Other duties include managing high-value jobs (such as red route roads), checking Beenabouts and Whereabouts, recording cost loss and the reason for this, all while ensuring the team are aware of any time-sensitive activities to minimise delays and additional expenses.
Prior to joining J Murphy & Sons Ltd, I worked as a personal assistant for Trend Communications, a telecommunications firm. Following that, I began working for Mercer, a Human Resource’s consulting firm, where I worked with actuaries and spent time in the Sales and Marketing department, planning events and advised businesses on pensions, benefits, and tax.
To date, my proudest moment was saving money on Highway Agency Works Charges (HAWC) with the rest of the planning team. We noticed that a job appeared to have already been completed and took the necessary steps to cancel bays, resulting in a large refund. I take pride in the number of times I have been able to assist the Alliance in reducing costs associated with Streetworks.