How to mitigate risks to animals on construction sites

Modern construction sites operate with a commitment to protecting the local environment, and that includes any wildlife that makes its habitat in the area.

Safeguarding animals that live on and around your construction or demolition site can help to protect your brand reputation, as well as avoiding delay and disruption to your project.

Timber mats are one way to do this. By keeping a stock of ground protection mats nearby, you can cover over all kinds of ground-level hazards, to avoid the nasty shock of finding trapped or injured animals on-site when you arrive in the morning.

Cover holes and trenches

Ground excavations are a common part of construction work, to lay pipes and other utilities, to build foundations, and for various other reasons.

When you leave excavations open, especially overnight, you run the risk of wildlife falling in and being unable to get back out.

Timber mats are a quick and easy way to cover any exposed trenches and holes, for the safety of wildlife and humans alike, and can be removed easily when work resumes the next day.

Prevent muddy quagmires

A hole full of mud can be even more dangerous than an empty trench, especially for smaller creatures who might get completely bogged down by even a shallow pool of wet mud.

Bog mats can span wet and muddy ground, providing immediate protection for wildlife, while reducing the damage done to the ground or infrastructure underneath.

Ideally, put bog mats into position from the start of the project, so the tyres and tracks of heavy plant cannot churn the ground into mud and this risk is avoided completely.

Protect wet concrete

Equally as bad as getting stuck in mud, wet concrete also presents a hazard and a potential threat to life for small wildlife creatures.

Even if an animal makes it across your concrete without getting stuck, they are likely to leave paw prints in the surface, so on this occasion timber mats protect the wildlife and the concrete itself.

This helps you to deliver a high-quality finish, without the delays and additional costs of having to re-lay concrete that has been unwittingly defaced by birds’ footprints or mammals’ paw prints.

For more information on any of our timber mats and how we can help your project please don’t hesitate to get in touch.