Professional Vision 3D is a high-end automated excavator control system from Moba that displays position information, incline and height differences in real-time on an 8.4-inch touch screen to help prevent digging errors. An internet connection enables the system to transmit and receive project data from the office, global navigation satellite system (GNSS) position data is automatically recorded and all common file formats are supported.
www.moba.de
The Vehicle Loop alarm is a wireless anti-theft cable that wraps around plant machinery and if cut activates a wireless transmitter to trigger a main alarm. Intended as an added layer of security for Clarke Construction Security’s Central Monitoring Station for construction sites — manned 24/7 and alerted when any alarm is triggered — the device can be easily moved to different areas of the site provided it remains in range of the wireless base station provided.
www.ccsec.co.uk
PPE products manufacturer Arco has just launched its Tool@rrest system of hand tools, lanyards, belts, pouches, tie hooks and lifting buckets which address safety issues when working at height. Hand tools feature an integral tether which fixes them to a point or person without hindering their functionality in use. Arco can also offer a retrofit service to tether existing equipment if it meets industry standards.
www.arco.co.uk/toolarrest
How we fixed it
St Hugh’s Charterhouse monastery, Parkminster
Gordon Leicester, MD of powered access equipment specialist Facelift
What was the problem?
The monastery, in Cowfold, West Sussex, was built in 1873 and is the only post-Reformation Carthusian monastery in the UK. High-level maintenance work was required to clear blocked gutters, carry out minor roof repairs and inspect for damaged masonry, but access to roof level was severely restricted by the monastery’s unique layout, which comprises many small courtyards, over a kilometre of cloisters, and a 60m-tall spire on the main church. Before we arrived it was over 25 years since the roof had been touched.
What was your approach?
We mobilised a truck-mounted access platform with a huge telescopic jib that could reach over the building’s roof from the outside and down to the interior roofline in the courtyards and cloisters When anchored into position, the Bronto 50 XDTJ’s 26-tonne, 6×4 truck is able to support the jib, which is divided into three-sections giving it a maximum outreach 35m and an up-and over reach of up to 16m.
Were any other solutions considered?
Not really. Some areas, such as the monks’ tiny individual gardens, were totally inaccessible using conventional scaffolding or crane access equipment. The Bronto is the first of its kind in the country and its working platform is able to lift up to 120kg.
How was it working with a client bound to a vow of silence?
Only some of the monks aren’t able to speak, the “worker monks” we dealt with were very friendly and treated the operatives to traditional lunches in small tiffin tins and bottles of strong apple wine to take home. It’s a strange place though, some monks spend 18 hours a day in solitary confinement, a practice that’s gone on for 500 years, and then there’s the chanting and the dimly-lit corridors. It definitely felt a bit eerie at times!
