As with many things, prior preparation is the key to a successful result and with that in mind, here is a brief insight into what goes on behind the scenes at HMS, ahead of installation day…
National site evaluations:
Generally speaking, all sites are thoroughly inspected ahead of our installation date to check for several key factors to include; quality and suitability of base surfacing, access for our materials, vehicles and operatives, confirmation of material and colour specifications, plus health and safety & programme arrangements.
Meetings take place up and down the country every day, ranging from main contractor building sites, live carriageways, down to private driveways alike. All sites are measured and evaluated against the same criteria, regardless of the location or the size of the project.
Stock Checking & Maintenance:
Here at our Leicestershire based head office, we can house upwards of 200 tonnes of specialist aggregates and binder materials at any one time, in our three purpose built warehouse facilities.
Super-washed and dried aggregates must be protected from potential moisture ingress, and raw resin products are kept safe in our ambient store to preserve their shelf life and prevent crystallisation.
Material quantities and expiration dates are audited regularly to ensure that we are always able to react in a timely manner to our customers’ requirements, and only ever using the best quality materials.
Vehicles and Plant:
Running a whole fleet of specialist surfacing and highway maintenance vehicles can quite literally be a full time job in itself. At HMS we take the safety of our operatives and third party colleagues/members of the public extremely seriously, and as such all of our specialist vehicles are subject to rigorous and frequent servicing and testing.
A number of equally important factors are considered as part of our extensive maintenance schedule to include road worthiness, emissions testing to remain in line with our reduced carbon certification and environmental policy, safety of specialist plant such as HIAB cranes, tail lifts and boilers, all on top of regular servicing/ MOT and general maintenance.
Staff Training:
All HMS operatives hold a City and Guilds NVQ Level 2 certificate, along with qualifications in traffic management, health and safety, CSCS and Emergency First Aid at Work.
In addition to these nationally recognised qualifications, HMS runs a comprehensive in-house programme of very task-specific training by way of toolbox talks and safety auditing.
All operatives are trained in-depth regarding safe use of hazardous plant and equipment such as boilers and gas operated hand tools. All HMS staff are familiar with the risk assessments and safe systems of work for all of our products and services, and receive regular updates and refresher training as standard.
The Paperwork:
You probably won’t be surprised to learn that before any works can take place, there is generally the not-so-small matter of paperwork to deal with! From start to completion; quotes, contracts, method statements, risk assessments, purchase orders and completion certificates all need to be handled by our office team to ensure that all works are completed within spec, and in line with our clients requirements and expectations.
So in summary, this little snapshot gives you an idea of just some of the things going on in the background before, during and after the physical product installation, to ensure the best possible result for our customers.
