Groundwork has been in the Guardrail installation industry for some 30 years and has trained contractors in many countries in the best practice of guardrail installation.
Our CEO, Stephen Beeby is well-positioned to share the best practice on the installation of guardrail.
Study in India
In India and many other countries guardrail is installed by augering holes with a tractor or excavator attachments.
This method of construction is slow and cumbersome:
1. Labour crew range from 5 to 8 members
2. Dangerous due to rotating drills and equipment moving around on site.
3. Productivity is low; only 60 to 80 meters per day with 5 crew members.
Today there is a new system that is well proven for the past 20 years in many counties, like Australia, New Zealand, Chile, USA, and Canada to name a few.
We use the Challenger 800 Guardrail Pounder to drive 150 x 100 I beam posts. This takes around 70 seconds to install.
The Challenger 1500 is designed to lift and place the rail into place with the support of two crew members to install the bolts.
The process is quick and simple because:
1. There is no need to measure the spacing of the posts or the alignment
2. Reduction of staff on site
3. Increase in daily output – i.e. 500 to 1300 meters daily with 4 to 5 man crew
4. Increase in safety on site due to a reduction in equipment movements
5. Decrease in injuries due to limiting lifting of the rails
So what does it cost to install 1 km of standard guardrail?
This calculation is based on 2 meter post spacings
· Challenger 800 – A post every 70 seconds = 650 posts per day.
· Therefore, 650 posts equal to 1300 meters per day.
· Staff on-site should be approx. 3 to 4 Crew members plus the machine operator
The cost of running the Challenger, is very small if you take in the daily production output of 1300 meters:
• Fuel burn per hours is 4 litres • Other costs include normal engine servicing at 250 hours • On average, the R & M allowance should be 5% of the capital cost per annum.
Additional Attachments include;
• Rock drill • Auger Drill • Post-Extractor • Guardrail Barrier unit
Summary
There are two options available to contractors; do nothing and fall behind their cometitors as they modify their practices or become an industry leader and increase your market share.
2022 will be a year of change, and only those who are truly innovative will see the advantages in using new methods.