Working platforms for tracked plant: good practice guide to the design, installation, maintenance and repair of ground-supported working platforms

BRE (Building Research Establishment) is an independent, research-based consultancy, testing and training organisation, operating in the built environment and associated industries.

On 1 June 2004, BRE published Working platforms for tracked plant: good practice guide to the design, installation, maintenance and repair of ground-supported working platforms (BR 470), written by Hilary Skinner.

For the purposes of this publication, the expression ‘working platform’ is restricted to ground-supported working platforms for tracked plant, constructed of granular material, including not only itself, but also the associated ramps and access.

Ground-supported working platforms are critical for plant stability. Safety is a vital issue, and most perform well, but rigs overturn more frequently than they should. The Federation of Piling Specialists instigated the preparation of this guide to help improve practices related to the use of piling and associated specialist plant and to promote safety in design, specification, installation, operation, maintenance and repair of working platforms without unnecessary or excessive expenditure.

The 52-page guide highlights important issues in site assessment, design, installation and maintenance of working platforms. Design calculations are given, together with worked examples for different subgrade properties.

The contents are:

Foreword.
Site conditions.
Design.
Installation.
Operation, maintenance and repair.
Photographs.
Appendix A: Design calculations.
Appendix B: Determination of characteristic values of soil and geosynthetic parameters.
Notation and abbreviations.
References.