The easy way to lay slabs - Slab lifter

[haggistini]

I didn't mean to be flipant sean and sorry for your loss I understand h/s and should be ashamed of my dry cutting and ppe practice as I hold street works supervisor and various plant tickets, but when it comes to breaking ground with anything be it a road pin or plant I try my best to make it as safe as possible. But until they invent a 100 mm cutter that can be suppressed with water I'll continue to dry cut!

[haggistini]

What about core cutting slabs I use water with a hired 110 makita kit anything available for that???

[lutonlagerlout]

i believe there is compressed air ones haggi
the main issue with water and doing fine work is that the water obscures the lines
i have a little multitool called the allrounder,the blade vibrates ever so slightly but it is great for plunge cutting timber etc
if they could make one of those a bit heavier duty it would be ideal as there is no dust
we also have an arbotech but they are too slow at cutting stone
LLL

[rab1]

setts,

yes laings still do the yellow/red card system but with the IIF traing system anyone working in the area would get a yellow for a minor offence (not wearing your hard hat type offences).

Been on a site (not LOR) where 8men were thrown off site because a scaffolder was not clipped on while working at the top of an open 10 story riser and the lads waiting for him to finish never stopped him. ???

[seanandruby]

I didn't mean to be flipant sean and sorry for your loss I understand h/s and should be ashamed of my dry cutting and ppe practice as I hold street works supervisor and various plant tickets, but when it comes to breaking ground with anything be it a road pin or plant I try my best to make it as safe as possible. But until they invent a 100 mm cutter that can be suppressed with water I'll continue to dry cut!

Decided to withdraw that bit hag,' wasn't really fair of me to mention that. I know you guys are up against it with cost etc: I think you all do your best with what you have. At the end of the day you are in charge of your own safety, as long as you look out for Joe public, because the shit would hit the fan then. Just spare a thought for the people who's property you are on with the dust, silicosis is no joke m8 :;):

[ilovesettsonmondays]

i wonder if ray o' was as safety concerned when he worked for murphs ,mind you that was years ago . he shut down the site i was on for 3 days

[seanandruby]

He is very concerned when it comes to safety. I've known him come on jobs and card the project manager and gave him 3 weeks to get his house in order, or get the red one.. Watching and listening to him speak on the last IIF dvd it was hard for him,The widow of that young steelfixer brought it home to you. It's the construction managers and supervisors i worry about because a lot of them have concrete fever and nothing will stand in their way to get it in, safety goes out the window when 8 metres of madness pulls up on site. :p

[rab1]

The problem as a supervisor is that you have only so many man hours to complete a job and also enforce the safty aspect and at times the two just don`t match up. :O

[henpecked]

Why does it need it sean? the forks are always kept at a slight upward angle, and the strap supporting the lifter is under tension round the forks.

Just to be a bit of a boreman, the straps are under tension, therefore the chances of the tine cutting the strap are very high.
High weight, tension, uneven ground and the bag slipping up and down the tine makes for this type of lift very dodgy if your on a major site.

Right back to the daft comments and videos.

Hop

[msh paving]

Why does it need it sean? the forks are always kept at a slight upward angle, and the strap supporting the lifter is under tension round the forks.

Just to be a bit of a boreman, the straps are under tension, therefore the chances of the tine cutting the strap are very high.
High weight, tension, uneven ground and the bag slipping up and down the tine makes for this type of lift very dodgy if your on a major site.

Right back to the daft comments and videos.

Hop

The chances of the stap getting cut compleatly through and the slab falling are somewhere between slim and zero, there is more chance the sucky lifter will run out off battery power and let go first.maybe if he had used chain instead of a strap he would have been better,but where does it end.......as small singled handed contractors Digdugdan, myself,and various others Don't have unlimited pots off money to buy every possible thing that might make the job a tiny bit safer MSH

[seanandruby]

I would of liked to see a longer strap or chain so that you wasn't so close to the forks and awkward handling, also hi-viz and hard hat. Maybe in the absence of a lifting frame have the forks tilted back slightly and the choke up against the back of the fork. a longer drop chain etc; would make your job so much easier. By the way there is one of those on ebay £475 and a two man probst for about £1500. It is a bit ridiculous having a hard hat on for painting but if you have to walk through a blue area then that's the law. Hopefully your mate got the job with the risk assessment on the tree surgery, they are needed with a tool like that. Sorry Rab, not all are useless, i know your good at it. I declined the job because of that. There are those " supervisors" out there who think your there to fuel there ego, the young lad with me included. You know the type, his voice has risen a couple of octaves and the phone stuck to the ear all day :laugh:

[rab1]

I know Sean, some of my colleagues believe they know it all.
I personally believe in asking the man doing the work his opinion how best to do the task in hand.

[dig dug dan]

Sean i paid £400 for the lifter on ebay. Some clown had wired up the charger back to front, but apart from that its been sound.
i always keep an eye on the pressure gauge and only lift when it is in the green
A longer strap means i have to have the forks higher, so when you are lifting a slab from the back of the truck, its more awkward.
It was a proper lifting strop with a two tonne capacity. I tried a chain, but it slipped more readily.
To be fair, i normally use a chain on the digger, which cannot go anywhere!
but i see everyone's point of view here.
If i was using the lifter to its capacity(500kg) then more precautions would have been taken!

[DNgroundworks]

hmm, im not going to make much comment here as some of the stuff we get up to out here in the countryside, i think some lads on here will have a fit!

But i mostly agree with DDD, if we (as small private contractors) were to implement every little piece of h&s law and practice we would be out of business in no time. Yes look after the customers and the public, but if i want to jump on a manitou and move a pack of flags 50 yrds across site whilst my brother is putting a mix on wearing no hi-viz, i dont have a manitou ticket or any formal training but is that really that unsafe?

I can understand the procedures on a big site, as mentioned but to over the top for a patio.

[seanandruby]

50 yards across site, some patio m8 ???
DDD made you think tho' :;):