Even small construction companies can get in on bidding for jobs and competing with other companies hungry for work. You sometimes have to be clever about the way that you compete for tenders and you have to make sure we have the right equipment and materials to get the job done as quickly and efficiently as possible; we can to keep clients coming back. This can mean using a construction broker to make sure you get the right combo of new equipment and secondhand equipment to help the business succeed. This blog is about finding and choosing heavy construction equipment for your small scale construction company.
Even the most experienced and highly-skilled earthmoving contractor can accidentally hit and break a sewer line when digging through and removing soil from a plot of land with their excavator. Oftentimes, sewer lines are very similar in colour to the soil in which they are located and as such, are almost impossible for a contractor (who is seated in a machine that is many feet above the ground) to see. Here are two steps that earth moving contractors should take if they find themselves in this situation.
Do not approach the broken sewer line and attempt to seal it up
As soon as the contractor realises what has happened, they should stop moving the machine's bucket, reverse (in order to stay out of the area where the sewer line's contents are spraying out) and switch the excavator off. They should then proceed to contact a plumber.
Under no circumstances should the excavator driver approach the sewer line and attempt to temporarily seal it up. There are two reasons why it could be disastrous to do this. Firstly, the soil around the sewer line may be loose and unstable as a result of this person digging into it with their excavator. As such, it might crumble under their feet when they try to get to the broken section of the sewer line, which may then cause them to fall onto it and break a bone or suffer other injuries.
Secondly, the waste that comes out of this type of pipe is likely to be toxic and may contain microbes that are harmful to humans. If the excavator driver tries to seal up the pipe by themselves, whilst wearing their normal construction clothes, any wastewater that splashes onto them could result in them being in danger of getting an infection. Conversely, a plumber who is asked to do a job like this will come armed with goggles, a dust mask and coveralls, which will keep them safe on the job.
Do not use the excavator elsewhere on the site until its bucket has been sanitised
It is also crucial for the excavator driver not to use this heavy construction equipment anywhere else on the site until they have sanitised its bucket. The reason for this is as follows; due to the fact that the bucket is the component that digs into the soil, this is the part that will probably have come into contact with both the sewer line. As such, it will probably be covered in a substantial amount of wastewater.
If the driver of this excavator digs up more soil elsewhere on the site without cleaning the bucket first, they can contaminate other areas of the plot. This could make the site unsafe to work in, which could cause other issues.
Share30 September 2019
