As the UK’s largest independently owned windscreen repair and replacement specialist, National Windscreens’ expertise is not just limited to cars, vans and HGVs. The company’s specially trained technicians are also highly experienced in installing replacement glazing for a wide range of coach and bus, agricultural machinery and plant - and recently fitted a piece of glass in the roof of a high level crane cab eighty feet above ground at Bristol Port Company in Avonmouth, Bristol.
The job required a specific method statement, risk assessment and precision planning to ensure National Windscreens’ experienced technicians followed working at height regulations and accessibility due to the narrow steps and walk ways to reach the cab.
All of the technicians involved in the job have undertaken Work at Height and Safety Passport Training to prepare them for accessing such high hazard industrial locations.
To complete the job successfully, the cab had to be encased with scaffolding so that the roof could be accessed safely with the appropriate fall protection bars in place, and the facility for the technicians to attach a safety harness and lanyards.
The glass was then lifted by crane on to the deck in a position close to the cab and the old glass had to be removed from site, again by crane once the job had been completed. Bristol Port Company conforms to rigid health and safety regulations and would not allow high level work to be completed on the cranes if wind levels rose.
Thankfully, the weather remained settled and the job was completed with relative ease as the technicians maneuvered the glass into position which was restricted as a result of the necessary scaffolding. One technician fed the glass up from inside the cab to two more waiting outside to get it into the right position.
Denis Reed, the Regional Compliance Manager at National Windscreens, Bristol said “As a specialist glazing division we fit glass to all kinds of vehicles. Normally these are at ground level however occasionally we are asked to fit a piece of glass out of the ordinary. This was the case with Bristol Port. The glass fitting was simple enough, but the piece of glass that needed replacing was on the roof of a crane cab some 80 feet in the air!
“It required several visits to the site before we could commit to the job after a very specific risk assessment taking into account the height of the cab, the potentially strong winds and the exposure to the elements, but it was a very successful job.”
A spokesperson for The Bristol Port Company said “We were very pleased with how National Windscreens handled this complex task. Their pre task planning and attention to detail was particularly impressive.”