Road plates can be extremely useful in instances where construction work needs to be done on a road, as they can cover up any excavations that are created and thus facilitate the safe and continuous flow of traffic on the road, despite the fact that the road itself features several very large holes. However, it is important for construction workers to use these plates properly. Here are two frequent errors labourers make when they use this equipment
Bolting the road plate incorrectly
Most road plates come with bolt holes so that the people that use them can insert bolts through these openings and into the ground where the plates need to be placed. This is done to ensure that the plates don't move around and allow the excavations underneath them to become exposed. One error that quite a lot of labourers make when bolting these plates is positioning them in a way that leaves the bolts very close to the edges of the excavation, where the road paving is crumbling. This can result in the bolts not keeping the plate in place (as the paving in which they are located is unstable and loose).
This mistake can cause problems. For instance, if the driver of a compact crane that is carrying some materials doesn't notice that the road plate has moved, they might drive over this gap, which could cause their equipment to abruptly lean to the side. This, in turn, could cause the materials on the crane's hoist to swing violently back and forth, and then strike and injure one of the other workers.
Not adding waterproof tape to the edges of the road plate when it rains
Construction workers who use plates like this also sometimes forget to add waterproof tape to the plates' edges when it rains. This is a particularly big mistake on roads that are not completely level, as when plates (which are perfectly flat and level) are laid on these roads, there is sometimes a small gap between them and the excavation they're supposed to be covering.
If no waterproof tape is added to the edges of the plates in these circumstances, then the excavation could end up full of water and the construction team might then have to spend a few hours dewatering it. This could hold up the rest of their work and increase their costs (as they may have to hire a pump to carry out the dewatering).
Additionally, the team might have to wait for the wet soil in the excavation to dry up before they can load it up with paving materials and use their road paver to compact these materials. The reason for this is that when the paver is driven over this area, the softness of the soil below the paving materials will cause this area to sink downwards below the level of the rest of the road.
Share9 October 2019
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