Working within and on Industrial sites, similar to our other market sectors, present their own set of issues which need to be addressed and allowed for, early, whilst remaining flexible enough to complete sometimes critical Health and Safety work.
In most cases, sites remain operational, with potentially significant issues working in and around large, operating machinery, with high or low temperatures, noxious or toxic environments, harmful emissions and moving Plant. On some sites we are required to have operatives specifically trained as 'nominated' / 'authorised', to issue and sign-off permits, undertake safety critical work and ensure the highest levels of Health and Safety.
In some cases, we work during planned maintenance shutdowns, with multi-disciplined operations potentially undertaken in close proximity, all within a tightly controlled and immovable window of opportunity.
Close liaison with the Customer and detailed planning are always critical, to maintain high levels of Health and Safety, and Quality, whilst ensuring that we complete our work to programme.
We also work in confined spaces, with chambers and channels of various sizes and shapes, with various access issues and sometimes extremely noxious, toxic and or unpleasant previous contents. Again, close liaison with the Customer is required, to ensure that it is necessary to enter and that if so, that the risks can be mitigated, so that we can develop a safe system of work.
Another important aspect of working on such sites is an understanding of the processes that impact on the surfaces under investigation. The deterioration and degradation, and the right strategy for subsequent repair and protection, will almost certainly be, more or less, influenced by exposure to the specific environment/s on site, in addition to the typical factors of cover, carbonation and chloride.
We must therefore study, in detail, the environment/s of exposure, fully to resolve these factors if our recommendations for durable repair and protection are to be reliable.