rockershovel Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 The site at the back of our house used their excavator from site clearance to finishing the roof; once ground-works were finished, they swapped the bucket for a set of forks. The site was so constricted, a Telehandler wouldn't have had room to turn, but a tracked machine can turn in its own length. I did notice the machine was their own, and not hired, so I suppose it made sense for them to leave it on site if they didn't have any other work for it. They also mixed their own mortar on site, something I hadn't seen for a while. True enough, if you have a tight site and a machine with no other work, you make do. You CAN use a sufficiently large excavator as a pallet handler, small tunnel sites often do this because they have a regular requirement to lift small quantities of grout on pallets, but it isn't the usual preferred choice. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted July 6, 2016 Share Posted July 6, 2016 True enough, if you have a tight site and a machine with no other work, you make do. You CAN use a sufficiently large excavator as a pallet handler, small tunnel sites often do this because they have a regular requirement to lift small quantities of grout on pallets, but it isn't the usual preferred choice. I was quite surprised to see it been used in this fashion- I hadn't realised you could put a set of forks on the boom, as they did. What has always struck me is how little mechanisation has been introduced to smaller sites in the UK. When travelling in France and Italy, it seems even the smallest site has either a hoist or a smaller tower crane to take material to any works above the ground floor. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 ... the short answer being that for no reason I am aware of, in UK the function tends to be carried out by tele handlers. I suspect also that the structure of the industry is part of the reason. France, in particular, has a large number of very small contractors, a small number of large contractors and a huge gap in the middle. This means that quite small sites are executed by contractors with significant capital resources and technical skills - whereas in UK, you just hire a tele handler by the day, drive it off the low loader or in the gate, and go straight to work, requiring only a driver. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted July 7, 2016 Share Posted July 7, 2016 Returning to the OP, another feature of any modern site - defined access from the gate to the site offices. It might be a line if Heras panels, road pins and tape, but there will be SOME defined access - you don't walk into the entrance, straight onto the working area. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted July 8, 2016 Share Posted July 8, 2016 Plenty of guides to good practice, well illustrated, in here http://www.hse.gov.uk/pUbns/priced/hsg150.pdf . Some nice, easy to follow, illustrations of scaffolding, for instance. Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRail Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 Returning to the OP, another feature of any modern site - defined access from the gate to the site offices. It might be a line if Heras panels, road pins and tape, but there will be SOME defined access - you don't walk into the entrance, straight onto the working area. That might be the case with a large site but small builders can't afford that luxury Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted July 9, 2016 Share Posted July 9, 2016 That might be the case with a large site but small builders can't afford that luxuryIt's a legal and insurance requirement, not a luxury; there are no "luxuries" of any description on construction sites! The small commercial site near my house (a Co-op as it happens) has a typical arrangement - cabins inside the gate, about 10m inside the gate and 2-3m set back, against the fence. Marked area is a footpath from the gate to the cabins and parking for two vehicles, Defined pedestrian access consists of a row of road pins supporting that orange plastic fencing roll; cost of construction must be well into two figures. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRail Posted July 12, 2016 Share Posted July 12, 2016 I am not referring to commercial sites of Any size I am referring to small builders who carry out minor mods, extensions and renovations Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I am not referring to commercial sites of Any size I am referring to small builders who carry out minor mods, extensions and renovations That's a bit OT, though. The OP was specifically about a house construction site or comparable site, not a jobbing builder working on an existing house Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Defined pedestrian access consists of a row of road pins supporting that orange plastic fencing roll; cost of construction must be well into two figures. Not commercial by any means, but I'm doing some fairly heavy work at the front of my house. "Defined access" to my front door consists of some traffic cones that I nicked from a school sports day years ago supporting a row of knackered pallets. Being tight, cost of construction = zero! Only one postman has been injured so far (splinter). He will insist on wearing shorts. Maybe of some interest to the OP... this is a cameo on my layout. Riddled with factual errors, but I do hope it gives at least a "flavour" of the real thing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben pez Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Lovely looking layout Did you scratch build the scaffolding? Looks very neat and in scale,like the two rakers,and how theve been tied back to the job. Cheers Ben Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Did you scratch build the scaffolding? Thin brass rod (badly) soldered. Luckily, once painted, the big solder blobs pass for clamps if you don't look too closely. I've no doubt there should be more rakers and bracing but I just wanted to give an impression, not try and fail to make something bang-on prototypical! The scaffolding can't even be seen when viewed from the front of the layout. I also know that some of the details on the site are wrong but it doesn't bother me too much. I never like getting too "hung-up" on one particular scene, always wanting to move on to the next. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben pez Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Good work,and your right the blobs of solder do look like the fittings,kicker lift in it too! Nice bit of modelling. Cheers Ben Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I'm not sure about scaffolding on the trackside - should it be draped in some sort of netting or debris sheeting? I'm sure there should be SOMETHING to prevent anything being dropped on the RoW? Steel frame buildings sometimes have temporary fall arrest netting strung to catch loose items dropped during high level work, these are quite simple Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fat Controller Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 I'm not sure about scaffolding on the trackside - should it be draped in some sort of netting or debris sheeting? I'm sure there should be SOMETHING to prevent anything being dropped on the RoW? Steel frame buildings sometimes have temporary fall arrest netting strung to catch loose items dropped during high level work, these are quite simple I think you'll find that Network Rail insist on that, even if the works are not within the railway boundary. They have people who go around sites, checking that contractors comply. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben pez Posted July 13, 2016 Share Posted July 13, 2016 Yes,scaffolding on the network these days is sheeted in with monoflex. But that would hide that nice model of it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rockershovel Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Yes,scaffolding on the network these days is sheeted in with monoflex. But that would hide that nice model of it! One of those occasions when strict accuracy isn't always best for modelling... I didn't know the details of working trackside or in proximity to tracks, it's too long since I last did it but there were always extensive requirements for planning and security - restricting or planning slewing or tracking of cranes and excavators also comes to mind. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LongRail Posted July 15, 2016 Share Posted July 15, 2016 Relatively new adjacent line working standard is quite prescriptive Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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