Five Challenges for Winter Working

25th September 2022
Site Condition Report

Working in all weather conditions is part of working in construction however; the winter can be particularly cold and unpredictable. As we all know, snow tends to bring the British Isles to a standstill making our site investigations a real logistical challenge.

At Lustre we always like to proactively prevent delays, so we have come up with our top 5 Challenges for Winter Working when planning a site investigation during the winter months.

1)    Delays due to snowfall are inevitable…our drilling crews and surveyors are based all over the UK so we expect longer journeys and possible cancellations if they are stuck.

2)   Less daylight hours during mid-winter means that we have less hours to safely work on site. Once on-site we may have to deal with frozen water pipes, frozen ground, additional clearance works, and mechanical issues.  This will mean that our investigations may take longer than during the summer months.

3)    Snow cover hides things! Service clearance is limited when there is snow cover on the ground.  The snow can hide man-hole covers, scars and other service indicators making it very difficult to trace and identify. The same can be said for Phase 1 walkovers.  These should not be carried out during any snowfall as it can mask any signs for potential contaminative sources present at a site.

4)    Appropriate clothing is essential for keeping warm whilst on site. When the temperatures drop to freezing, you will now see the team at Lustre sporting padded, lined, waterproof hi-vis ‘Onesie’s’ to stay warm and dry.

5)    Finally, safety is always our priority, if there is any doubt we consider it better to reschedule a site investigation until it is safe to travel and dig holes. It will often be safer, quicker and less costly to wait a few days for the snow to clear…

And there is one positive of working in colder weather…our samples will stay nice and cold!

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