Dangers of uneven ground: risk assessment & solutions
Each year, health and safety statistics continue to rank slips, trips and falls as being among the main causes of injury in workplaces throughout the UK.
It’s a broad category but in any case, one way to reduce the risk of trip hazards and falling on the flat is to make sure the ground underfoot is flat and level.
Uneven ground can introduce several avoidable hazards, such as sloping slippery surfaces, ruts and furrows, and the risk of penetrating into voids hidden below the ground.
Temporary ground protection mats are a quick, easy and economical way to provide a physical barrier between feet, wheels and the ground surface below.
What can temporary ground protection mats cover?
You can hide a multitude of less-than-perfect working surfaces beneath temporary ground protection mats:
- Slippery surfaces such as mud that can be churned up by heavy-duty tyres.
- Grass you want to remain in place after work is completed.
- Weak substances e.g. expansive soil that may be prone to subsidence.
Temporary roadways can provide safe and demarcated access for plant vehicles and machinery on to the site, while reducing the need for them to negotiate lumps and bumps in the ground surface.
And temporary pedestrian walkways can be laid down to provide essential grip underfoot and ensure workers’ boots are not clogged with mud when stepping on to clean surfaces around the site.
Why are timber mats a good option?
Safety is important but it should not come at an excessive financial cost for your business – and timber mats offer the best of both worlds.
The timber itself has little intrinsic value, so they’re not a theft risk and they should have little to no impact on your site insurance.
We have timber mats for sale and for hire, so if you only need them as a one-off, you don’t face the need to store or sell on your ground protection mats once the work is completed.
Equally, if you need a stock of your own timber mats for subsequent projects, you can buy them from us and get many years of service life out of them for even greater economy.
