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Why Digging Construction Ditches for Cables is Wrong

11/26/2015

In order to know why digging construction ditches for cables is wrong, it's necessary to know the problems involved. In most states in the US, there are safety rules for digging and trenching related to construction.

There are three types of cable installation:
. Direct burial
. Aerial
. Conduit

Construction ditches are chiefly used as interceptors in geotech engineering to drain water to another location. Generally, construction ditches are dug in the ten foot right of way along streets and roadsides.

When they are located elsewhere, a petition by both the construction company and cable provider should be submitted for approval from the state and locality.

The potential problems that exist when construction ditches are used to lay cables are easy to see. These include:
. Incorrect location of ditches
. Improper testing of soil density and depth
. Injuries and death

Incorrect Location of Ditches
There are many incidences of the digging of constructions ditches in the wrong locations like near freeways and near to natural gas lines. Since digging requires the use of heavy duty excavation equipment, this increases the problem of digging too close to other underground lines and piping.

Improper Testing of Soil Density and Depth
Soil tests for soil density and depth are required to insure safety. Cave ins and soil collapsing is a major problem for construction ditches related to laying cables. Trench boxes are required under US OSHA regulations to be used during digging or excavation. More information on specific regulations can be found at the OSHA.gov site.

Injuries and Death
The major reason digging construction ditches for cables is wrong is the potential for injury and death, should a collapse or cave in occur. This applies to newly dug ditches damaged by storms and existing ditches that give way. The alternative is trenchless ditches for laying cable.

To avoid the dangers associated with digging cable trenches, check out the patented construction of Brahman Systems cable and hose protectors!

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The Need for Fire Hose Protection Ramps in Emergencies

11/19/2015

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While emergencies caused by nature and man-made accidents are an unfortunate reality, many specialized tools and equipment have been developed over years of rigorous trial and error to better improve the immense task first-responders must grapple with at the scene of an emergency. Due to the unique and dangerous circumstances these events often entail, firefighters, EMTs, police officers, and other emergency personnel are frequently put under large amounts of stress in the course of performing their duties. Fire hose protection ramps and other specialized equipment improve emergency worker safety by mitigating physical hazards, including exposed and fully-charged fire hoses at emergency sites.

Hose protection ramps are used in roadways and other areas that experience large volumes of vehicular and pedestrian traffic. These ramps not only serve in securing the safety of personnel and civilians in the vicinity of accidents and disasters, but also in preserving taxpayer dollars by protecting municipal vehicles like fire trucks, ambulances, and police cruisers from damage due to impacting a fully engaged, live fire hose, which produces thousands and thousands of pounds of water pressure. Civilian vehicles, though largely directed away from such hazards by additional safety devices such as road cones, detour barriers, and other directional aides, are also protected from costly damages. This reduces individual expenses and insurance costs due to avoidable accidents at the scene of an emergency.

Constructed with a heavy-duty steel design, hose protection ramps are built to withstand tremendous forces from fire trucks and other emergency response vehicles that typically weigh in upwards of 20,000 pounds. Most ramps are built to meet and exceed these strict tolerances, with some models tested and certified to withstand pressures of up to 65 tons!

Ramps are constructed with bright-yellow, florescent, or otherwise highly visible markings incorporated into the design in order to make them more discernible in darkness and other low visibility conditions, such as storms and other weather events. Hose ramps are often designed to require toolless assembly, which improves disaster response times and translates into more lives rescued, and more property saved. In addition, multiple spans of ramps are often connected together in order to span whole sections of roadway, further contributing to safety and minimizing costly damages to fire hoses and other first responder equipment.

Disaster preparedness involves considering many factors, so that rescuers are able to perform their jobs and provide the courageous civic function that they do in our society. Commercial products including fire hose protection ramps serve to remove one more obstacle that disaster crews face in the line of duty, and contribute to a faster, more effective response to the disasters we face all too frequently.

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Why Digging Construction Ditches for Cables is Wrong

The Need for Fire Hose Protection Ramps in Emergencies

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