What to do if your construction site is flooded
Tis the season for severe weather warnings and if you’re facing the threat of heavy rain or you’ve been issued with an Environment Agency flood alert, be ready with bog mats.
Bog mats offer you several ways to contend with flooding, depending on how deep the water is expected to get.
Even shallow floods can contain health risks and when water drains away, that can leave your ground surface unsafe for direct contact.
Laying timber mats over it can allow access for remedial work to begin and so that you can clean up any surface residues so full access can be regained.
Ground protection mats also prevent waterlogged earth from being deeply rutted or churned up by chunky vehicle tyres or plant equipment caterpillar tracks.
If you are able to take action ahead of any flooding, you could construct an elevated platform using bog mats to lift materials well clear of the expected height of the flood water.
This is a technique that is commonly used when working on wetlands and marshes, and involves laying timber mats in a criss-cross formation, with the lower timbers acting as a scaffold on which the top layer of bog mats can be laid.
By remaining relatively open between those criss-cross supports, using bog mats to build a flood platform in this way does not prevent the water from draining from the site.
And because timber mats are made of natural materials and have low intrinsic value, they can be disposed of easily and in an environmentally friendly way after use if they become contaminated from the flood water.
In every respect, using ground protection mats to prevent unnecessary damage to the earth, provide a barrier between your feet, tyres and the floodwater residue, and elevate materials to avoid them getting wet where possible, all adds up to a better construction site flood plan.
As we move into the new year and the wet winter and early spring months, it’s well worth considering investing in a stock of bog mats for sale so that you have them close at hand if heavy weather hits.
