Useful Tips For Digging And Excavation In Winter

Many construction companies like to operate in summer and spring, but sometimes working in winter is inevitable due to the project’s nature. Moreover, if you are working in an area that is cold most of the year, you need to excavate and construct in freezing conditions as well.

However, it can be a bit taxing to carry construction projects, excavation works, and digging in cold water. This is why careful steps must be taken while carrying excavation and construction projects in winter. The use of special machinery and tools can aid the job, making it a bit less hard. Excavation or digging the land covered with snow or icy surfaces is even more challenging.

Excavation is a real challenge in chilling winter conditions. However, having an experienced Hydro excavation company handle the job can smoothen the process. Professional excavation trucks and all other needed tools and expertise make the best combination to get a challenging job done under special and challenging uncontrollable circumstances.

Knowing the process and awaiting challenges can help you preempt the situation and act accordingly. The article below provides some useful tips to carry a successful excavation and digging process in harsh winter conditions.

Prepare Your Team

Hypothermia and frostbite are the last things you want to deal with while carrying construction functions in harsh winter conditions. Make sure your team members and labor are fully covered with warm clothes to avoid any health safety hazards induced by weather conditions.

If conditions get even extreme, you can choose to space out your project to prevent overexposing your troops to the uncontrollable elements. You should normalize the use of reflective gear to subside potential hazards caused by low visibility.

There are eminent chances of employee sickness and injuries. Who should cover the medical bills and injury treatments? This is where buying employee compensation insurance comes in handy and is quite inevitable. So, buy it.

Prepare Your Equipment

Before starting the excavation process, the next step is to get your machinery in the right condition or hire a company with the right excavators. Make sure to inspect the boom, stick, and attachment in the repair shop before moving the equipment to the construction site. It is always difficult, expensive, and time-consuming to carry any repair at the worksite, with winter weather multiplying the inconvenience. However, if the condition arises, it is not bad to keep spare or wear parts on hand.

Invest In Frost Proof Equipment

If you are working in a region where frost penetration under snow is less than 12 inches, it won’t be a problem. But when the frost penetration exceeds this limit, it becomes challenging, and you can’t always use conventional excavation and digging tools.

Aside from the fact that most of the conventional excavation equipment might not work in the winter conditions, heavy frost and icy ground can break and damage the equipment badly. Therefore, you must consider investing in special frost-proof excavation tools and equipment such as hydraulic rippers and hyper hydraulic that use a warm water spray to move the frozen soil. If buying such tools is too expensive for you, look for trusted excavation truck rentals and rent the desired equipment at a fraction of the price and get the work done.

Keep Your Supplies Safe

Winter conditions can hinder the timely conditions of various construction tasks, with digging and excavation occupying the top positions on the list. You can experience sudden snowstorms, landslides, avalanches, and other similar conditions, forcing you to stop your work. Similarly, weather conditions can halt the timely completion of some weather-dependent tasks such as insulation spraying or drying concrete.

Therefore, it is important to arrange special supplies storage and safety areas at your work site. This will protect your equipment from not only bad weather but also from opportunistic construction site thieves (mere cold weather can’t solely discourage the foul actions of these ill-intended individuals).

Plan For Emergencies

Winters are quite unpredictable, especially in areas experiencing frequent snow and hail storms. Therefore, you and your workers must be fully prepared to deal with any unprecedented event while excavating in such conditions. This includes adding extra safety materials and equipment to the excavators to mitigate the impacts of bad weather. Put an emergency kit and other useful essentials in every vehicle. This may include

• Safety blankets

• First-aid kit

• Emergency kit

• Extra food

• Spare warm clothes

• Matches

• Flares

• Batteries

• Water

Conclusion

The last thing you want on your construction project is a legal case. So, when facing heavy snowstorms and blizzards it is better to postpone your excavation, digging, and other construction activities until the weather conditions are no longer that extreme. Even if you need to complete the project in winter, you can always get some relaxed winter hours where you can work smoothly after implementing all the on-site safety measures.

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