Handling & Storage On Site
Site management is an important part of the Risk Assessments and Method Statements (RAMS) required for any site working under Construction (Design Management) Regulations (CDM) and the ordering, transporting, offloading, handling and storage of all heavy materials is the primary element of that discipline.
Ordering materials in the correct order is vital. You do not want to be working on a site that is cluttered with builder’s bags of sand and ballast spread around, broken bags of cement causing staining and blocking drains, and piles of partially opened pallets of bricks with sharp steel bands flapping in the breeze. Quite apart from looking unprofessional, any passing HSE Inspector would be straight on site, issuing compliance notices and charging you a couple of hundred pounds an hour for the privilege of their instructions. (Charged for by invoices which cannot be appealed).
Depending on the site, the amount of room to maneuver, width of access and amount and type of storage space, plus the amount and type of materials required on site at any given time, a products schedule should be written before work commences, clearly identifying the materials, likely method of transport and offloading capacity (loose material tipped on site, crane offload, fork lift requirement etc) and ensure they arrive on site in a timely manner.
You do not want fifty tons of ballast stacked two bags high in the way when you are trying to deliver paving slabs to the rear garden, with the client’s Rolls Royce parked in the middle of the desired access route. (This is the primary reason for discouraging the customer to order or arrange materials for a project. You will have no control over the how, where, why and when of any orders that you were not directly involved in placing. You may end up with pallets of paving stacked around the limited site space, with no room for any base materials due to incorrect ordering.)
You will need to have the site cleared of all excavations and muck-away lorries before ordering deliveries of the sub-base and base materials. MOT Type 1, delivered in ton bags, may be delivered straight into position by means of fork lifts retained on site, and placed conveniently as required. Sharp sand and cement may also be placed following the spreading and compacting of the sub-base, ready to be mixed as the laying bed under the paving.
It is an advantage to have a site hut or covered secure shelter to be able to spread out plans and drawings, and also to serve as a safe repository for all of those small items, brick ties, spacers, grouts and slurry compounds etc, that may become ‘lost’ if left around unattended.
It is important to identify or create a level storage space for pallets of paving and other hard landscaping materials, both to aid with the safety aspects of driving fork lifts over sloping ground, and also to avoid open pallets or crates from collapsing ‘sideways’ thus creating a potential health hazard.
Cement and any other paper bagged materials will require a dry shed or adequate sheeting, using a pop-up style tent, or similar low compound to prevent rainwater damage.
When conducting a RAMS survey, always include site safety for the customer and any visitors. All materials, where possible, should be protected by 2m high security fencing, to be kept secure at all times when not in use.
