What are the site requirements that must be met to work with high reach equipment?

In order to construct a safe and suitable working surface for the machine to operate, the selection of a suitable area for that purpose must be based on an appropriate and sufficient ground investigation.

Weak zones in the sub-grade, inadequately backfilled and compacted excavations, existing or abandoned services and hard spots, such as old basement walls, must be localised as they are potentially hazardous areas.

It is particularly important that any sub-structures (below ground) around the building/structure are identified and documented within a risk assessment and safety plan, as these could have the potential to collapse beneath the machine causing it to overturn. This last point is particularly crucial when working in cities and towns with underground tunnels.

To prepare a site for the placement of heavy machines, weak zones, old foundations, and abandoned services may need to be excavated. Backfilling such excavations with suitable compacted material is essential. The excavation of small localised areas with weak ground may suffice, but larger areas require more detailed attention. The presence of inadequately backfilled trenches or service tunnels could cause such problems.

It is also important to consider natural or man-made voids, such as cavities in weak rock, shafts, wells, tunnels, culverts, and basements. It may be necessary to take measures such as backfilling.

For instance, where this is not practicable or possible to improve the ground as required the site may need to be zoned, voids or weak zones should be clearly marked and isolated from site activity by barriers or other means and or the machine may have to be kept at a minimum distance from pits or trenches in order to be used safely.

Experience shows that besides the study of the technical documentation (plans and sketches available) it is advisable to carry out some surveys with standard excavators to exclude the presence of underground places or basements. The consequences of an unexpected yielding of the ground, already difficult for a standard excavator, become dramatic when high reach demolition excavators are involved for the followings reasons:

  • Small yielding in ground levels at the base machine can cause significant and uncontrolled movements at the working height.
  • In the event of a high reach machine rollover, the extent of the damage may spread over a considerable area.

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