Why Do You Need Ground Protection Mats for Heavy ...

Heavy-duty matting is an important requirement for construction sites, renovation projects, and outdoor events. They provide ground protection that prevents damage to delicate natural areas and environments, including protected sites, gardens, and agricultural spaces.

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There are many reasons why ground protection mats are beneficial for various types of sites, which improve safety, easier access, and support for contractors and employees working on projects.

 

What Are Ground Protection Mats?

 

Ground protection mats are often made of lightweight, durable materials that can create safe passageways and temporary roadway access to various worksite platforms. These mats prevent damage to grass, plants, and various terrains from heavy machines, vehicles, and equipment. They offer floor protection while allowing heavy equipment to maneuver around the mud, sand, and rough surfaces easily for access.

Heavy-duty composite mats are versatile for outdoor and indoor sites. Composite matting is commonly used in construction, utility, power transmission, sewer rehabilitation, outdoor events, and gas drilling projects offering excellent protection from debris, dirt, and chemical spills. These protective safety mats are an ideal alternative to timber mats made with hardwood, which often break or become unstable.

There are many types of ground protection matting options, from lightweight mat options to rubber mats and other durable materials applied over mud, grass, sand, synthetic turf, and mixed terrain. Ground protection mats are available in various square foot sizing, as entrance mats or temporary roads for large-scale projects. 

 

Benefits of Ground Protection Mats

 

There are many great benefits to using ground protection mats for your construction or worksite. This versatile matting protects the environment, people, and property, including nearby sites and natural areas. Ground protection mats stabilize work areas while providing temporary access for visitors and safe access for workers and contractors.

Ground protection mats are ideal in many weather conditions, wet areas, and cold climates that can become challenging for maintaining consistent productivity and preventing accidents or injury. Ground protection mats keep construction sites safer, minimizing danger and providing easier access for people, machinery, and equipment.

 

Protecting the Environment From Heavy Equipment

 

Ground protection mats make access much easier for people, construction equipment, and machinery while providing excellent protection for the surrounding environment. They are easy to transport and relocate, covering delicate soft ground and natural areas and shielding them from debris from construction and worksites. They also prevent the adverse effects of heavy foot traffic while offering a more even surface, with good traction, to prevent slips and falls.

Also, heavy machinery, materials, and tools won't leave behind residue or disrupt the ground when it's adequately covered with temporary roads and access mats.

 

Help Safeguard Man-Made Surfaces

 

Heavy-duty ground protection mats protect man-made structures and surfaces on and around the construction site. You can choose from landscaping mats, swamp mats, turf protection mats, and crane pads that safeguard the natural area on the worksite location while providing traction for heavy machinery and equipment and workers and a non-conductive surface.

 

Provides a Secure Base for Equipment

 

Ground protection mats can be implemented to create temporary roadways and site access, provide a secure, stable surface and ground conditions for workers, machinery, and visitors to the site for excellent safety. Matting that doesn't slip or move, keeps all equipment steady and easy to use without any concern of lack of traction.

 

Can Be Reused Numerous Times

 

Ground protection mats made of composite materials are reusable, unlike hardwood or similar covers, which tend to rot, break, or warp, compromising safety. Composite mats are cost-effective, last longer, and can be used for multiple work platforms. Ground protection mats provide consistent traction throughout significant weather, difficult soil, and terrain shifts.

Since many protective mats are lightweight, you'll find they ship to your location at a lower cost, as indicated in the delivery information. Composite mats are ideal for all year-round construction, outdoor events, and projects.

 

Will Not Waterlog, Warp, or Splinter

 

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Protective matting like Composite mats are made of durable materials, such as High-Density Polyethylene, so they won't splinter, break, warp, or become heavily absorbed and weighed down with water. While some timber ground mats may work well in the interim, they don't last as long as other water-resistant materials designed for various terrain and weather conditions.

 

Final Thoughts

 

Sunbelt Rentals offers a wide variety of high-quality ground protection for all your worksite needs. Our knowledgeable customer care team will find everything you need for your site's unique requirements.

Contact Sunbelt Rentals to inquire about ground protection mat options, equipment, and tool rental options in our product brochure.

Blog

24 February

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Ground protection mats or ground guards are literally what 'it says on the tin', as the expression goes. They are man-handleable mats that can provide essential ground protection and access for machinery, or pedestrians, over soft or sensitive ground. They will remove the need for costly reinstatement measures after a job is completed, or for delays and downtime on projects being completed.

 

There are several excellent reasons for using ground protection mats which we will explore in this blog.

 

1. Safety

The number one priority on any site should be the safety of the staff and pedestrians. Sites are generally uneven or unstable in terms of terrain, and with the use of heavy-duty equipment or simply high levels of foot traffic, such as at an event or festival, there can be many trip hazards that increase the risks of people or equipment having falls or other accidents. They are also a method of ensuring safety in wet and cold weather as their surfaces are slip-resistant with chevron traction surfaces, giving superior grip and reducing the chances of slippage, protecting your workforce and machinery all year around. Using ground guards will ensure that anyone accessing your site remains as safe as possible.

 

2. Protection

Ground protection mats are designed to do just that; protect the ground. However, by protecting the ground they also protect machinery and the environment. The UK often has unpredictable weather conditions and, especially in the spring and autumn, can have higher levels of rainfall. These periods of wetter weather tend to lead to the ground becoming softer, making the passage of heavy-duty equipment more challenging without destroying the ground's surface. Ground guards will enable heavy machinery to pass safely over softer ground surfaces without sinking or destroying the site.

Heavy machinery can compact the ground, even if it's not wet and soft, and this can be equally as devastating to the environment as ploughing up softer surfaces. If the ground isn't protected, then it can cause soil erosion which can disturb wildlife and ecosystems, and the damage to the underlying ground can make the foundations of other local buildings unstable. Ground protection mats will help prevent compaction, erosion and runoff - as well as enable construction companies to reduce the impact of their work on the local environments they're working in and around.

The other element of protection that ground guards help with is to protect machinery. Gravel, mud and other hazards of the UK's weather conditions can also damage the machinery being used on sites. Ground protection mats will minimise the amount of dirt and gravel that could cause your equipment to become damaged or break down. Heavy-duty access equipment that is required for construction work often needs to be maneuvered into unpredictable positions, and unstable surfaces can cause damage to these valuable machines. The temporary roadways that ground protection mats can create will minimise damage to equipment and help create safer access, enabling the project to be completed without issue or holdup.  

 

3. Durable

Created from high-density polyethylene (HDPE), ground protection mats are extremely tough and durable. Able to withstand loads of up to 80 tons, they are very lightweight ' each mat weighs a mere 35 kg ' making them easy to manoeuvre into position, and they can be connected to create temporary roadways. Able to safely spread the weight of the heaviest of powered access platforms, these mats protect lawns and paving or prevent machinery from sinking into soft surfaces and getting stuck.

The HDPE of the ground guard mats is not only recycled, but also recyclable - meaning that not only are they protecting the environment that they are used in, but they are also being created sustainably.

Ground protection mats have the added benefit of being easy to clean, needing only to be hosed down to keep your temporary road surface free of the dirt or gravel that could damage the machines using it, or create trip hazards for pedestrians.

 

4. Cost saving

Ground protection mats are not expensive to either purchase or hire, and in the long term will save your company from the much greater cost of reinstating surfaces that are damaged by heavy machinery. They will also decrease the risk of injury and sickness pay for members of the workforce, or the public, who could be injured by working on unstable ground conditions. Ground guards will also save your company dividends by preventing the delay of projects being completed if the weather conditions are unfavourable. If the weather is unpredictable and unseasonably wet, which can always happen any time of the year, and the ground becomes too soft for heavy access equipment, ground protection mats will guarantee that work can continue unhindered until completion.

 

GTAccess can supply all your ground protection mat needs

With decades of experience in the industry, supplying powered access machinery and accessories, GTAccess has all of the necessary experience to advise you on matters of ground protection. Ground guards are available to purchase or hire, and we also supply a range of outrigger pads for equipment with outrigger arms, that need stable surfaces for a wider area than regular mats can provide. We sell a range of accessories suitable for use with access platforms that you can browse today.

Get in touch today, to chat with one of our expert team about your ground protection needs.

Contact us to discuss your requirements of Construction Mud HDPE Mats. Our experienced sales team can help you identify the options that best suit your needs.