Year: 2020
How to safely set up your crane
The tower and mobile cranes setup procedure requires meticulous setup to avoid any catastrophic accidents during lifting operations.
This includes instability and damage caused by:
· Soft and undermined ground conditions
· Hidden utilities and conduits
· Overbalanced cranes
Ground protection mats help you to control for these common crane hazards by spreading the pressure of the crane over a larger area, as well as expanding the base area over which the centre of gravity can be safely located.
Using crane mats to build a lifting platform
First of all, crane safety requires to have a competent person with the relevant safety training to survey the ground in order to identify any hidden hollows and other potential hazards below the surface.
These can create pockets that the crane can fall into – and even a small cavity can leave the crane leaning in a dangerous position.
Crane mats can be used to span smaller spaces below the surface, by ensuring that the pressure is applied over a level lifting platform instead of on a single point of contact.
Widening the base area
Outrigger pads are a way to increase the effective base area of the crane so that the centre of gravity cannot move to an unstable position.
Again, using outrigger mats spreads the pressure of the crane’s outriggers over an area, reducing the risk of crane accidents due to an outrigger sinking into soft ground or breaking through into an undetected cavity.
They also help to create a flat and level surface for the outrigger to make contact with, which can be helpful if the ground itself is not completely level or even.
Things to consider
It’s important to assess the type of outrigger pads and crane mats you need, according to the soil type, the size of your crane or other lifting equipment and the total load you need to lift, among other things.
You might want to consider:
· The size of outrigger mats you need.
· The type and maximum load of crane mats.
At all times, make sure you observe your lifting platform, crane mats and outrigger pads carefully, and halt your lifting operations if you notice any significant deformation.
For more information about crane mats, lifting platforms and outrigger mats, contact Timbermat today and we will be happy to help.
Impact of climate change on flooding in the UK
Storm Ciara had barely blown over the UK in early February before Storm Dennis was announced, bringing another weekend of wet and windy weather to much of the country.
This might feel like a pattern in recent years, when crisp, cold, snowy winter days have been relatively few compared to blustery weather and prolonged downpours.
And we could be set to see weather events like Storm Ciara and the Beast from the East become more commonplace, based on a major study published in the journal Nature in 2019.
Flooding on the rise in Europe
The research pulled together data for thousands of rivers across Europe from academic sources including the University of Bath and the University of Liverpool.
It found flooding due to burst riverbanks has increased in northern Europe in the past 50 years, while decreasing in southern Europe.
For those working in engineering and construction in the UK, this trend is unavoidable, with the potential to cause significant disruption if you’re not well prepared.
Dr Thomas Kjeldsen of the University of Bath said: “Incorporating the evidence of increasing flood risk into engineering design and general flood management would ensure we are better prepared for future changes.”
Dr Neil Macdonald from Liverpool University’s Department of Geography & Planning added: “Flood management must adapt to the realities of our changing climate and associated flood risk over the coming decades.”
How to adapt?
One simple way to do this on building sites at relatively low cost is through the use of timber bog mats, which can quickly and easily cover over wet and muddy ground.
Stacking bog mats in an H-formation, similar to laying railway lines over sleepers, can raise walkways and temporary roads above the level of waterlogged land, allowing work to proceed uninterrupted.
At Timbermat we’ve been supplying bog mats for sale and hire for many years, including for use on marshland, beaches and other tidal locations.
Timber bog mats are relatively cheap, with little to no impact on site insurance costs, and are manufactured from completely sustainable timber – minimising their environmental impact.
Responsible forestry can even have benefits for the environment, as trees are a natural store of carbon, making timber mats an all-round positive solution to the future challenges of climate change and increased risk of flooding on construction sites across the UK.
How bog mats are helping save the environment
Bog mats are a versatile way to protect delicate land against damage during heavy works, excavations and demolitions, but these ground protection mats also help to protect the wider environment in a very real sense.
During use, they provide a physical barrier against any unexpected spills, for example oil, fuel spills or other potentially harmful fluids that can be cleaned up more easily from ground protection mats than from the exposed ground surface.
Timber mats are a sustainable resource, manufactured from several species of European hardwood and tropical hardwood that can be replenished through careful forestry and responsible stewardship.
And because producing or importing these woods into the UK is governed by strict regulations, you can always feel confident that any bog mats for hire or for sale from Timbermat will not contribute towards deforestation anywhere in the world.
In fact, farming timber for the purposes of producing new timber mats has a positive impact on the number of trees in the world, because sustainable practices mean there are always new trees being planted to create timber stocks for the future.
End-of-life timber mats
It’s not only during their manufacture that bog mats can have beneficial effects on the environment; their disposal can also help to close that loop even further.
Again, because timber is a natural product, it can be recycled in many different ways, and will biodegrade much faster than artificial materials like plastic bog mats.
By opting for durable tropical hardwood mats, you can get many years of good service life out of the bog mats you buy, so there should be no environmental impact at all for as long as you keep them in good condition.
Likewise when you hire bog mats from Timbermat, you are helping to reuse a resource many times before its disposal – we only supply timber mats that are still in good condition, but equally we only retire worn mats when it’s necessary to do so.
This balance is a best of both worlds solution, ensuring that our bog mats for hire also have a long service life, and are disposed of in an appropriate way when they are no longer in usable condition.
What to do if your construction site is flooded
Tis the season for severe weather warnings and if you’re facing the threat of heavy rain or you’ve been issued with an Environment Agency flood alert, be ready with bog mats.
Bog mats offer you several ways to contend with flooding, depending on how deep the water is expected to get.
Even shallow floods can contain health risks and when water drains away, that can leave your ground surface unsafe for direct contact.
Laying timber mats over it can allow access for remedial work to begin and so that you can clean up any surface residues so full access can be regained.
Ground protection mats also prevent waterlogged earth from being deeply rutted or churned up by chunky vehicle tyres or plant equipment caterpillar tracks.
If you are able to take action ahead of any flooding, you could construct an elevated platform using bog mats to lift materials well clear of the expected height of the flood water.
This is a technique that is commonly used when working on wetlands and marshes, and involves laying timber mats in a criss-cross formation, with the lower timbers acting as a scaffold on which the top layer of bog mats can be laid.
By remaining relatively open between those criss-cross supports, using bog mats to build a flood platform in this way does not prevent the water from draining from the site.
And because timber mats are made of natural materials and have low intrinsic value, they can be disposed of easily and in an environmentally friendly way after use if they become contaminated from the flood water.
In every respect, using ground protection mats to prevent unnecessary damage to the earth, provide a barrier between your feet, tyres and the floodwater residue, and elevate materials to avoid them getting wet where possible, all adds up to a better construction site flood plan.
As we move into the new year and the wet winter and early spring months, it’s well worth considering investing in a stock of bog mats for sale so that you have them close at hand if heavy weather hits.