1-991 Highways England Drone Operating Policy and Standards

Highways England (HE) currently does not have any Requirement and Advice (RAD) documents, policies, processes, governance or guidance specifically for the operation of drones on, or managing air space around, the strategic road network. Drones are currently being used for undertaking surveys and network inspections throughout the business and on our strategic road network without any governance. This could put our people, customers and neighbours at increased risk. High level risks currently unmitigated are asset strike, drone failure/crash, driver distraction, misuse or uncontrolled public drone use. Although not dedicated for drone operation, we do have a control process in place through the GG104 Safety Risk Assessment requirement. This would need to be carried out for each individual use of drones. This task will help minimise the production of individual GG104 assessments, clearly providing the company's position and process to follow for the use of drones on or adjacent to our network