New tools

Industry focuses on safety equipment

By Ellen Hickok-Wall
Daily Reporter Staff

This eight-wheel-drive transporter, used for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District deep-tunnel inspection, weighs 5,000 pounds, stands 12 feet tall and carries five people plus a power supply for lights and camera gear. The vehicle can turn on a dime and floats if it encounters water 16 inches deep.

Equipment that makes construction sites safer has grabbed the interest of people in the industry.

And what’s new this year? Well, Mark Syverson, sales manager at Vermeer Wisconsin, said his company is selling the Vermeer Interragator II, a piece of equipment that can gaze deep underground and display images of what it sees.

"It’s ground-penetrating radar," he said. "It bounces a signal down into the ground and the signal is reflected off of different formations. Then as that signal is bounced back, it’s put onto a display screen, and it gives a visual picture of something in the ground."

Tom Richards, training director for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 training center in Coloma, said he thinks the radar technology could change the industry.

"Ground-penetrating radar is able to accurately locate buried utilities," he said. "It takes the ability to locate underground pipes and utilities a step farther. It penetrates the ground with radar to get a snapshot of what’s underground."

Syverson said the equipment has been used for years in geological surveying, but it’s relatively new for locating underground utilities.

Reading the display screen takes skill, he said, but he’s had positive feedback from users of the radar.

"The guys who run it say that once you get your hands on it, it runs really well," Syverson said.

He said the equipment not only assures worker safety but also saves money.

"It’s extremely costly and quite dangerous if you hit high-pressure gas mains," Syverson said.

The Vermeer Interragator II is a ground-penetrating radar system that uses electromagnetic waves to explore beneath the ground. The equipment can spot underground objects, potentially averting high costs and dangers associated with disrupting cables and electronics buried beneath the surface.

Putting utilities underground is becoming more common, he said, which puts extra emphasis on a need to know what’s there when excavating.

Danger above

Utilities that are overhead are easy to spot, but they also create hazards, said Dan Burazin, safety director for the Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee. He said a lot of equipment manufacturers are designing equipment to take care of that safety concern.

"For instance, (a worker is on the ground) operating a truck crane that may unload concrete block off a truck," Burazin said. "By putting him out of contact with the ground, you insulate that person from the potential for electrical shock. That’s not a new concept, but it’s something that you see more and more."

While some safety equipment is designed to protect people who work above ground, other tools are designed to work down under. The Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District uses a vehicle to inspect its deep tunnel 300 feet below ground.

The eight-wheel-drive transporter can turn on a dime, said Bill Graffin, communications and environmental policy manager for the district. Super Excavators owns the 12-foot, 5,000-pound vehicle, he said, which also becomes amphibious.

"It can drive through 16 inches (of water), and then, when it hits deeper areas, it starts to float," Graffin said.

There’s always something new on the horizon, Burazin said, and there’s always need for change.

"What helps you today may not help you tomorrow," he said. "It’s ever changing in our industry."

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