Recent overnight maintenance works provided the opportunity for Term Maintenance Contractor (TMC) FM Conway to trial the use of some additional environmentally-friendly equipment.
On this occasion, the kit was a Mobile Elevating Working Platform, or MEWP. This enables operatives to be safely raised above road level to access hard to reach areas.
The first MEWP tested was all-electric, meaning it could be charged on-site using the bridges’ 100% renewable electricity, and then moved into position. The vehicle was our preferred choice on paper, however this particular MEWP did not have jacks or self-levelling legs, meaning a lot of additional, time-consuming manoeuvring for safe use on the road camber.
Instead, for now, a hybrid electric/diesel platform with self-levelling legs appears to be the most appropriate solution for reducing carbon.