Plymouth RDC Roof Replacement Works

Dartmouth General Contractors, as roofing contractors completed the work over an 11 week period. This involved fixing the fall arrest system (internal netting), internal debris netting to safeguard people working in the warehouse, scaffold access and edge protection and the roof replacement itself.

The project involved removal of asbestos roof sheets, rolled insulation and plasterboard lining, installation of new Kingspan Roof sheeting to incorporate new roof lights, new valley gutters and edge flashings. It was imperative that the warehouse remained in operation 24/7 whilst the works were undertaken.

Works included

• Netting suspended from the main steel rafters to act as fall arrest
• Debris netting to prevent any asbestos product or other materials falling onto the warehouse floor, racking or staff working below
• Erection of access scaffolding, loading bays and edge protection
• Removal of asbestos sheeting, one bay at a time, which was placed in a segregated asbestos skip
• Removal of Insulation, which was placed in its own segregated skip
• Removal of plasterboard lining to the underside of the roof, removed from site in a dedicated plasterboard skip
• Cleaning rafters and purlins and bagging up debris
• Air monitoring and tape testing to the warehouse floor and racking
• Installing new insulated gutter system
• Framing out for the installation of new electronic smoke vents
• Laying new Kingspan roof sheets to include roof lights central to each bay
• Installing new roof smoke vents
• Installing new cable trays, trunking, etc. to take new electrical installation
• Connecting new smoke vents to the existing Fire Alarm System
• Testing and Commissioning

“All works were carried out to suit the operation of the warehouse, with netting taking place overnight, so no disruption of the picking operation took place.”

Dartmouth General Contractors provided additional management to cover these hours. Air monitoring took place only when stripping of the asbestos roof sheets was being carried out. In addition, Rooftech were asked to provide an additional back up by means of an on-site cleaner, to ensure the floor and racking were kept clean of any residual product. The cleaning was carried out using damp cloths which were double bagged and disposed of in the separate hazardous waste skip.

“On this project we scored 98.73% Green.”

HS&E

DGC recognise the importance of training its employees to ensure they all possess adequate Health & Safety training, which extends to its sub-contractors. In this instance, all Rooftech’s operatives needed to have training which qualified them to remove notifiable and non-notifiable asbestos products, possess the appropriate Face Fit tests to allow them to comply with HSE guidelines on Respiratory Protection, along with their training in working with Kingspan roof products.

• On recruitment, all personnel are assessed for their individual training needs. Information and certification is obtained for previous training, and any further training required is identified and recorded on the training matrix. The training matrix is maintained on a monthly basis to ensure that it is kept up to date. We provide training in the following areas: First Aid at Work, SMSTS, SPA Training, IPAF, PASMA, Fire Warden, Temporary Works and Asbestos Awareness.

• All Sub-Contract Risk Assessments are sent into Dartmouth General Contractors 2 weeks before the contractors are due to start on site. We then review the documents to ensure that they are suitable for the task. These are then approved and issued, or declined, with comments to the sub-contractors to make amendments accordingly.

• Our management team compile our own Risk Assessments, our PM’s assess the risks accordingly and then the risks are assessed in line with the regulated numerical system. This is a recognised standard and has been approved by our H&S Consultant and the associated risks are then calculated High, Medium or Low.

• Method Statements are provided by all Sub-Contractors 2 weeks prior to starting on site and then processed in the same way as the Risk Assessments.

• We compile our own Method Statements, in house, with the approval of our H&S consultant before these are added to our H&S files.

• All our PM’s and SM’s are sent on RA & MS training courses as and when required.

• All site have a Site Safety Board, advising on First Aid provision, Fire Routes, H&S Poster and Emergency Contact Numbers.

KPI

KPI’s are monitored Targeted areas are:

• Management
• Cost
• Health & Safety
• Quality

On this project we scored 98.73% Green.