Author: Jasmine Haining

Steps to ensure Safer Scaffolding

On July 8, 2021

In a Sydney scaffolding building site, it is very known that falling is one of the major hazards that result in fatal injuries or death. The usage of scaffolding in the Sydney building site has prevented construction workers several times from the danger of falls. According to OSHA, about 33% of death cases occur from a building site as a result of falls every year—also, it is estimated that about 68% of building contractors carry out their construction job on scaffoldings every year.

A great number of construction workers, work on scaffolding in Sydney to ensure efficiency when doing their jobs. As a result of heights that cannot be reached, the usage of scaffolds comes in place, so also the risk of using it. The solution to several safety measures when using scaffolding in the Sydney building site is highly hinged on whether the scaffold is perfectly safe to work on or not. Nevertheless, a scaffold in Sydney must be assembled by professional scaffolding companies who have the technical know-how and the skilled knowledge on how to properly install scaffoldings for the safety of workers on a building site. Also, proper inspections should be done after the installation of scaffolds to ensure that things are properly in order. To ensure safety, it is significant that workers are provided with tools that will help protect them from Sydney scaffolding accidents—the provision of tools also include giving them adequate training to ensure their safety.

To keep contractors using scaffolding in Sydney safe on a building site, the following steps should be put into consideration.

Educate Workers

The first step to take in ensuring safety from the usage of scaffold on a building site is to start with the training of workers. The creation of awareness about the danger of scaffolding in Sydney is highly important to curb major scaffold incidents. Also, workers need to be enlightened on different scaffolding designs, particularly the one that is being used on a building site. Furthermore, training should be given to workers on how to conduct a proper survey on a scaffold, how to assemble and dismantle scaffolds, how to safely use protection belts, and how to generally follow the right safety guidelines and principles. However, the training of workers should be updated anytime there are changes or replacement of scaffold structure.

Follow Instructions

Most of the incidents resulting from the use of scaffolding in Sydney can be avoided just by following simple instructions. For instance, contractors should understand that scaffolds are of different types, and stop interchanging the pieces of the scaffold from different producers. Using a piece from another producer on a different type of scaffolding can mean that the scaffold does not have its complete structural uprightness. Unfortunately, if the scaffold is not properly erected, it can lead to collapse. On rare occasions, producers might precisely stipulate that the pieces are connected and can be used together—but, to avoid incidents that are connected to scaffoldings in Sydney, it is advisable not to combine pieces of scaffolds from different producers.

Furthermore, to ensure that instructions are properly followed, scaffoldings should be erected on solid ground—sometimes, based on the situation of the ground surface which might be a result of rainfall that leaves the ground wet, a steel plate might be used to support the scaffold from the ground level. Above all, every erected scaffolding in Sydney should follow proper directives and laid down principles from a skilled practitioner. Also, scaffoldings that are high above ground level from a distance of 120 feet should be erected by licensed contractors.

Regular Inspections of Scaffoldings

To be sure of the durability of scaffolding in Sydney, regular inspections should be conducted to verify the strength and how much pressure a scaffold can carry while working on a construction site. Also, a competent person must be employed to supervise the activities of the erected scaffolding regularly, to make sure that the scaffolding is safe to work on—likewise, to maintain the uprightness of the entire building. A construction area usually involves heavy engineering operations, this is why it is crucial to employ competent hands on a construction site to regularly inspect the activities of scaffoldings in use.

Employ Site Supervisors

To ensure that workers are safe on the building site, it is essential to employ competent personnel that can handle and oversees the proper usage of scaffolding. The work of a supervisor is to ensure that scaffoldings are regularly surveyed in case there is a need for repair or replacement. Also, the use of scaffolding in cruel climatic conditions is decided by a supervisor, as they are professionals in reading weather. However, to ensure that scaffolding is not excessively loaded, a site supervisor is required to make sure that all the procedures and principles guiding the safe usage of scaffoldings in Sydney are put into play. Lastly, a supervisor should monitor the overall safety measures and make sure that workers stick with them.

Get Familiar with Scaffolding Hazards

Generally, there are several risks connected to the use of scaffolding in Sydney, the most common risk is as a result of falls—due to these common risk factors, barricades and fences should be erected. Also, safety belts should be given to prevent workers from falling. Due to the nature of building surroundings, sometimes electricity cables are found around the vicinity of a building site. To avoid the risk of getting electrocuted, electric absorbers should be erected close to the building sites—especially when workers are making use of metallic tools to work. Climatic conditions should also be into consideration before the usage and during the usage of scaffoldings in Sydney, because when the ground is wet as a result of rainfall—it can lead to a wet surface, which can cause a slippery and result to fall. Likewise, a heavy breeze can cause a scaffold to collapse when the ground is wet and it is not properly erected.

Usage of Right Safety Tools

Every contractor working on a building site in Sydney should be encouraged to use the right safety tools right before work starts and during the cause of handling the job—the usage of scaffoldings with barricades and walls should be incorporated to prevent falls and ensure safety. Also, the use of safety apparatuses such as safety belts, safety glasses, safety helmets among others should be encouraged among workers to prevent them from the certainty of falls and injuries resulting from it. Lastly, to ensure that workers are safely protected from the hazard of a construction site—it is important to wear boots that have non-slip souls.

In Conclusion

The leading cause of every construction hazard in a Sydney scaffolding building site is mostly linked to the usage of scaffoldings, this on many occasions has resulted in death or severe injuries to site workers. To avoid unplanned safety hazards on a building site, contractors and supervisors must follow the laid down guidelines and principles enacted by licensed bodies, to prevent and make sure that the risk that is associated with the dangers involved in the usage of scaffoldings in Sydney are prevented if not eradicated.

Different types of Formwork for Concrete Structures

By Jasmine Haining

On July 7, 2021

In Formwork Sydney

Because of its outstanding characteristics, concrete is one of the most extensively utilized construction materials. Concrete, on the other hand, must be poured into a specifically built mold in order to be used to make architectural parts. This is referred to as formwork or shuttering. As one of the formwork companies Sydney features, it’s imperative that you understand the different types of concrete structures.

Formwork can employ either temporary or permanent molds to keep the poured concrete in form until it cures and becomes strong enough to sustain itself. Formwork can be characterized in a variety of ways:

Type of material used
By the concrete element supported
Removable or permanent

Formwork is essential in concrete building. It must be strong enough to withstand all of the loads present during casting processes and then keep its shape as the concrete solidifies.

Different types of Formwork for Concrete Structures

Which Are the Requirements for Good Formwork?

Although there are many formwork materials, the following are general performance features to meet the needs of concrete construction:

Capable of withstanding dead and live loads.
Retaining its shape with adequate props and braces.
Joints must be leak-proof.
If formwork is removable, the process must not damage the concrete.
Reusable material.
As lightweight as possible.
The formwork material should not warp or distort.

When choosing formwork, keep the kind of concrete and the pouring temperature in mind, since both impact the pressure exerted. Formwork must also be able to withstand loads of wet and dry concrete.

Formwork necessitates the use of structures such as poles and stabilizers to prevent movement during building operations, which is referred to as falsework. A skilled crew and proper supervision are required to achieve good quality while working with concrete. In this regard, you should hire one of the best formwork companies Sydney has to offer.

The following sections provide an overview of some common formwork materials.

Timber Formwork

Timber formwork was one of the original forms of formwork employed in the construction business. It is the most adaptable variety and is erected on-site, providing the following benefits:

Easy to produce and remove
Lightweight, especially when compared with metallic formwork
Workable, allowing any shape, size and height
Economical in small projects
Allows the use of local timber

However, before utilizing lumber, its condition must be thoroughly examined to ensure that it is free of termites. Timber formwork also has two drawbacks that must be considered: it has a short life period and takes a long time to install in large projects. Timber formwork is often preferred when labor costs are minimal or when intricate concrete portions necessitate flexible formwork.

Plywood Formwork

Plywood is frequently used in conjunction with lumber. It is a produced hardwood substance that comes in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. It is primarily utilized in formwork applications for sheathing, decking, and form linings.

Plywood formwork has the same features as timber formwork, such as strength, durability, and lightweight.

Metallic Formwork: Steel and Aluminum

Steel formwork is becoming more popular due to its extended service life and ability to be reused several times. Steel formwork, though expensive, is beneficial for several projects and is a reasonable solution when numerous possibilities for reuse are anticipated.

The following are some of the main features of steel formwork:

Strong and durable, with a long lifespan
Creates a smooth finish on concrete surfaces
Waterproof
Reduces honeycombing effect in concrete
Easily installed and dismantled
Suitable for curved structures

Steel formwork and aluminum formwork are extremely comparable. The primary distinction is that aluminum has a lower density than steel, making formwork lighter. Aluminum also has a lesser strength than steel, which must be taken into account when employing it.

Plastic Formwork

This style of formwork is composed of lightweight and durable plastic and is made up of interlocking panels or modular systems. Plastic formwork is best suited for modest projects with repeated operations, such as low-cost housing developments.

Plastic formwork is lightweight and easily cleaned with water, making it ideal for big portions and several reuses. Its biggest disadvantage is that it is less flexible than lumber because many components are prefabricated.

Fabric Formwork

Fabric formwork, also known as flexible formwork, is a type of formwork that is made of fabric. This technique employs lightweight, high-strength fabric sheets that are meant to adapt to the fluidity of concrete and produce fascinating architectural shapes.

This style of formwork requires less concrete than rigid systems, resulting in cost savings. It is a new technology in the shuttering business that is well suited for irregular and complicated designs.

Stay-In-Place Formwork

This formwork is intended to stay in place after the concrete has hardened, functioning as axial and shear reinforcement. This formwork is constructed on-site using prefabricated, fiber-reinforced plastic forms. It is mostly utilized in piers and columns, and it also resists corrosion and other sorts of environmental degradation.

Coffor is another sort of stay-in-place formwork that may be utilized in any sort of building:

It is composed of two filtering grids, reinforced by stiffeners and linked with articulated connectors.
Thanks to its construction, it can be easily transported from a factory to the point of use.

Permanent Insulated Formwork

This is one of the most sophisticated formwork systems, with permanent insulation. It may also have thermal, acoustic, fire, and rodent resistant qualities. The most popular type of permanent insulated formwork is insulating concrete forms (ICF), in which concrete structures are insulated with polystyrene boards that remain in place after the concrete has dried.

Permanent insulated formwork provides energy efficiency and sustainability, helping to reduce the environmental effect of the building industry.

Classifying Formwork Based on Structural Components

Formwork can be classed not only by material, but also by the construction elements that it supports:

Wall formwork
Beam formwork
Foundation formwork
Column formwork

All formwork types are designed to sustain the structure they support, and the materials and needed thickness are specified in the associated building plans. It is vital to remember that formwork building takes time and might account for 20 to 25% of structural expenditures. Consider the following suggestions to reduce the cost of formwork:

To allow for formwork reuse, building layouts should reuse as many architectural elements and geometries as feasible.
When dealing with wooden formwork, it should be chopped into big enough pieces to be reused.
The design and purpose of concrete constructions differ. As with other project selections, no choice is superior to the others for all purposes; the best formwork for your project will vary based on building design.

Final thoughts

With what you just read, you should be able to understand the different types of formwork. This is especially beneficial if you’re running a formwork business and need it to rank as ome of the top-rated formwork companies Sydney has to offer.

Reshaping the construction industry with new-age technology

By Jasmine Haining

On July 6, 2021

In Concrete Sydney

What are the similarities between a pickup truck, a nail stick, a handheld circular saw, a cement mixer truck, and a modern hydraulic excavator? The simple explanation is that they’re all standard tools and equipment on today’s building sites. Another right response is that these are all examples of building technologies that were not available 100 years ago. Plus, if you’re looking to build a concreting company in Sydney. visit https://www.bkhgroup.com.au/our-locations/concrete-sydney/ to reading more about concreting company in sydney.

Consider what a building site would be like now if it didn’t have construction technology. We’d have to cut boards and dig holes by hand if we didn’t have power tools. Laborers would have to excavate areas and dig trenches with shovels and pickaxes if heavy equipment wasn’t available. Buildings would only be a few floors tall if they didn’t have elevators.

Reshaping the construction industry with new age technology

The argument is that modern concrete works technology has already propelled the industry ahead, so it’s strange that so many businesses are reluctant to embrace new construction technologies. We can build buildings that are heavier, bigger, and more energy efficient. Construction sites are now cleaner and jobs are more productive thanks to technological advancements. We’ve been able to boost efficiency, enhance teamwork, and take on more challenging tasks as a result of it.

What is Construction Technology?

Construction technology, according to the Construction Industry Institute, is “a range of advanced materials, machines, modifications, software, and other technologies used during the construction process of a project to facilitate innovation in field construction methods, including semi-automated and automated construction equipment.”

We will go even further by incorporating pre-construction technologies such as online bid boards, bid management tools, and automated takeoff solutions.

New building technologies are being built at a breakneck pace today. Linked equipment and tools, telematics, smartphone applications, automated heavy equipment, helicopters, robotics, digital and virtual reality, and 3D printed houses, which appeared futuristic 10, 20 years ago, are now here and being used and used on work sites all over the world.

Although building companies continue to underinvest in technology, venture capitalists are betting big on construction tech’s potential. According to a study published earlier this year by James Long LaSalle, Inc., venture capital funds spent $1.05 billion in global contech startups in the first half of 2018. That’s a nearly 30% increase over the amount invested for all of 2017. Since 2009, investors have closed 478 funding deals totaling $4.34 billion.

Here’s a look at some of the major areas where technology is impacting and improving the construction industry:

Productivity

Construction efficiency has been stagnant for decades, according to McKinsey & Company report. Construction is disjointed and siloed in the conventional design-bid-build process. Every construction site is different, with its own collection of risks and challenges. This makes streamlining procedures and increasing growth impossible, as it has been in sectors like manufacturing and retail. In this regard, you can seamlessly grow your concreting company Sydney features without much hassles.

Software & Mobile Apps

There are software and smartphone applications available today that assist with the management of all aspects of a building project. There’s tools out there to help you streamline your procedures and increase productivity, from preconstruction to scheduling, project management and field monitoring to handling your back office. The majority of computing solutions are cloud-based, allowing for real-time modifications and improvements to records, plans, and other administrative resources, allowing for improved connectivity and coordination.

Real-time data capture and transmission between the jobsite and project management in the back office is possible thanks to mobile devices. On-site workers can file timecards, payroll reports, requests for information (RFIs), job logs, and other checked documents using cloud-based solutions. This will save hundreds of hours a year of data entry and organizes sensitive archives automatically—no more rummaging through files searching for old records.

More cloud vendors are forming strategic relationships to enable you to easily merge your data with your other tech applications, making running your company simpler than ever.

Offsite Construction

Offsite architecture is often used in the design of apartment houses, hotels, hospitals, dormitories, jails, and classrooms, many of which have repetitive floorplans or configurations. Offsite work is carried out in a regulated climate, similar to that of an auto production factory. Staff have all of the equipment and supplies they need at each station to complete their mission, whether it’s building a wall frame or installing electrical wiring. This form of building in an assembly plant removes pollution and helps employees to be more efficient.

Modular and prefabricated construction are the two most common types of offsite construction. Entire rooms can be constructed with MEP, finishes, and fixtures already designed using modular construction. They can be as small as kitchens, or they can be assembled on site to create bigger spaces such as apartment units. The mobile units are sent to the job site, where they are inserted and connected to the concrete structure.

Construction parts are prefabricated and shipped to the construction site, where they are assembled or mounted. Framing, internal and exterior wall panels, door and window sets, floor structures, and multi-trade shelves, which are panels with all the ductwork, wiring, and plumbing packaged together, are also examples of prefabricated construction parts.

AI & Machine Learning

Data is now being used by construction companies to make smarter decisions, maximize efficiency, improve jobsite safety, and lower risks. Firms can use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning systems to forecast possible project results to achieve a comparative edge when forecasting and bidding on construction contracts, using the mountains of data they’ve accumulated over the years.

AI will boost job morale by reducing the time spent scouring the building site for machinery, supplies, and equipment needed to complete specific tasks. Smartphones or wearables are used to screen workers during the day.

Sensors on materials and machinery keep track of how everything else moves around the job site. If enough data sets have been compiled, AI may assess how employees navigate about and communicate with the web and find ways to reorganize tool and material positioning and make them more available to workers and minimize downtime.

Robots and artificial intelligence (AI) are now being used to increase jobsite efficiency by monitoring progress with real-time, actionable data. Per day, autonomous drones and rovers with high-definition cameras and LiDAR search and photograph the construction site with precise accuracy.

The AI then compares the scans to your BIM sketches, 3D plans, building plan, and calculations to inspect the consistency of the job and calculate how much progress was achieved each day.

Deep-learning algorithms are then used to detect and report mistakes in the work that has been completed. Excavation and site work, as well as mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, are examples of this. Even if only a portion of a building part is visible, AI will identify it based on its form, scale, and position.

These programs will inform you how much work was completed each day by classifying and calculating amounts constructed, which they will then equate against the building schedule and notify you if the project is behind budget. Additionally, the AI senses differences between mounted components and onsite work with templates, allowing you to easily find defects and prevent expensive rework.

Safety & Training

As the building industry begins to embrace new technologies, one sector that is receiving a lot of focus is improving safety. Construction workers accounted for 991 of the 4,963 workplace deaths in 2016. Any construction firm should prioritize worker safety, and technological advancements are making it easier to better train and track employees to avoid accidents and lower the rate of serious injury and worker deaths.

Final thoughts

With the launching of some concrete tech tools, concreting companies are expanding at a geometrical progression. This advancement also makes it super easy to launch a concreting company Sydney can immediately rely on.