Reducing respiratory disease... - ...in kerb, paving and block cutting

[Tony McC]

This is an update regarding the forum meeting that was held at the HSE offices in London Village last Friday.

Representatives from both concrete and plastic kerb/paving manufacturers were present, along with power tool manufacturers, local councils, civils contractors, highways agency, UCATT and other interested parties. Probably around 30 in total.

The aim of the forum was to develop what the suits continually referred to as a "supply chain initiative". FFS! Why can't they just say what they mean? As a dim-witted flagger and groundworker, it took me some time to figure out that a "supply chain initiative" means getting the trade to do the work, rather than having laws, rules and regulations imposed on us from above.

So, the big idea is that a 'working group' will be formed that will have representatives from installation contractors, kerb/paving manufacturers, power tool manufacturers, specifiers (eg: HA) and that a sub-group will be tasked with getting the message out to the lads on the site, and also to everyone else involved in specifying paving.

These groups will be in place sometime around Easter, and then will work towards a goal of eliminating dry cutting of ALL paving by 2009. I've put meself forward to work on 'education', which is basically spreading the word and ensuring that any training courses that cover paving are properly structured with this new development.

Before attending, I had an attitude much like most others from the site-side of this problem: if they are going to ban dry-cutting, just get on with it, but by participating in the forum, I've been able to see how there are different approaches that can be used to cajole the trade into compliance without having to threaten contractors with fines and/or jail. F'rinstance, the power tool manufacturers are going to look at ensuring all new cut-off kit is sold complete with dust suppression of one form or another.

This is an ongoing mission. Dust from cutting is a major health problem in our trade and summat has to be done before we end up with a hospital full of paviors choking to death. I'll keep posting updates to the website, but if anyone has any suggestions or comments, please reply to this thread, or email me and I'll pass them on to the relevant people.

[lutonlagerlout]

alas, i fear it is too late for me,after 20 years dry cutting,but i told the lads that its a £5 k fine now and so at least they are doing it religiously (including the mess)
i have used dust masks on and off but they never seem a lot of kop
another thing i noticed the other day when cutting a doorway out was that the water from the blade obliterated the guide line,maybe they could invent summat to stop this
cheers
LLL

[slickboy]

Yes, LLL, we have also noticed that the when wet cutting the flags the spray wipes out the pencil line, so we dry 'score' the mark then continue with the wet kit turned on. This is obiously only a partial soloution to the dust problem. Some kind of waterproof line would be helpful. I have a mate that always uses permanent marker for his cuts, maybee this might work. Hmmmmm!

[Tony McC]

I think I might have the answer for you - the Pavers Marker by Evans Innovation. These are a chalk composite that has been invented by Ricard Evans, a kerb/block layer from the East Midlands, as a solution to the problem of just what should be used to mark paving for cutting. I featured them in the review of last year's Interbuild show and since then, they've been taken up by a good number of contractors and at least one major CBP manufacturer as a promotional gift for their better customers.

I even built a website for them but it's still not finished and needs a good few more photos to make it worthwhile.

The gist of it is that these are flat panels of chalk and resin, just 2mm wide and 120x40mm in plan. They come in two standard colours, blue and white, although other colours are available to order. The main thing is that they mark ANY paving material, wet or dry, concrete, clay or stone, and the mark withstands the spray from water-fed cut-off saws.

Here's a pic I've just nipped outside to set-up and take...



...if you want to know more, see the website or give Richard a call on 01530 273832

[dig dug dan]

Tony mc is right. I brought some markers about 6 months ago and have handed them out to fellow contractors, who all say they are brilliant. I am still using the blue one, and it worked today wet cutting a slab. They are cheap, last ages and fit in your pocket so you never lose it.

[Dave_L]

Now if we could buy them on, for instance, ebay...........

[seanandruby]

after moaning we finally got the water suppression tanks. but no connectors supplied with same. i managad to find an old one and fixed it to the pipe. when i went to look later the pump was parked up and two eejits pouring water on blade with a bucket. ( no goggles and no dust mask. ) the reason " the connector on the saw is blocked ". dont know if any of you have chopped pile caps? but the ground around them is usually up and down and sticky when tying to move, the caps are muddy and out of shape. so you need to be on your toes. they can bring in legislation and controls but you will always get the plebs who "know better ". :p :p

[Tony McC]

The markers will be available via the website (theirs, not mine) and I'll mention EBay to them.

Pile caps - not summat I've done a lot with, other than a couple of riverside sites we developed in the early 1990s, but I do recall that special mention was made regrading them at the forum meeting, and IIRC, there are to be separate regulations introduced specifically for that sector of the industry, which is why the forum I attended was clearly labelled as "Kerbs, pavings and blocks" (they obviously couldn't decide whether to call them 'flags' or 'slabs' so went with the meaningless 'pavings').

[slickboy]

They look just the ticket, i've just asked for a sample from their website