About the Company
Founded in 1952 by Frank Jackson as ‘Roadworks 1952 Ltd’, a public works contractor, then rebranded in the 1990’s to Jackson Civil Engineering.
Early contracts included infrastructure for housing schemes and highway improvements.
Today, Jackson operates out of seven offices across England, employing around 350 staff, and collaborate with many smaller businesses who they subcontract to work on projects.
They are fortunate enough to work for a broad range of clients across different sectors and continue to grow.
About the Project
The stunning Temple Footbridge is an arched timber pedestrian footbridge spanning the Thames near Hurley in Berkshire.
Built in 1989, the bridge was recently closed due to concerns about the extent of degradation of the structure’s joints.
A bit of an unusual one for Easi-Dec as our systems are primarily used for roof access, however a fall prevention and access solution was required for a fragile surface, and we were happy to help.
• Safe access was required for the Temple Footbridge to facilitate a bridge condition survey and allow selected deck boards to be removed to aid inspection.
• The existing timber deck and parapets were not of suitable condition to walk on or use as edge protection to access the deck boards for removal.
• Risk of falling through the degraded timber into deep, and fast flowing water.
• A safe system of work was required to overcome these constraints and pass the loads onto the superstructure
The Requirements
• The deck boards, handrail and central mid span beam are partially rotten and to be considered as fragile and not suitable to stand directly on or to use as edge restraint
• Require safe access / temporary works platform with handrail and restraint system required where works require the removal of the temporary handrail
• As deck boards are fragile and span width ways across the bridge, system to be suitable to be supported by main bridge girder beams – point loads as green arrows below
• Ideally minimum of 2 persons per section to allow planned works to be undertaken
The Solution
The Easi-Dec Boardwalk temporary Safe Access System was identified as the perfect solution for this unusual challenge. The Boardwalk walkway system was designed for industrial and commercial roof access, particularly on fragile surfaces. The timber footbridge definitely met the criteria for a fragile surface, and the Boardwalk system could be adapted to meet the needs of this project.
Jackson Civils identified the following benefits of using the Boardwalk system:
- Simple to install
- Modular and light weight components allowing for easy mobilisation to the point of work
- Incorporated the safe systems of work required for various project needs:
- safely transfer load to superstructure
- safe walkway
- handrail edge protection
- and lanyard anchorage points
Delivering the system was picturesque but a little tricky!
Due to the constant heavy rain in recent weeks the river levels were high, and the access road was a little flooded. However, following a full risk assessment it was deemed safe to proceed and Tom was able to deliver the Boardwalk system to site.
The Result
Once delivered the Easi-Dec Boardwalk system was installed on The Temple Footbridge to create a secure walkway, providing full access for the bridge inspection to take place in safety.
Customer feedback was extremely positive, and Jackson Civils were happy. It did exactly what was required, and they would definitely use the Boardwalk system again.
Jacobs, the company who carried out the bridge inspection for the project, said they have added the Easi-Dec Boardwalk system to their options list for safe systems of work when planning failing structure bridge inspections
Contact Us
We love how diverse our systems are, and although primarily they have been designed for safety when working at height on buildings, we love helping our customers from many different industries whenever we can.
Why not get touch and see if our systems can help deliver your next project
01767 691 812 or email [email protected]