Summary
Lanchester Wines are a family owned UK based wine importer and wine merchant, supply a wide range of quality and premier wines.
Lanchester Wines first called us to site to assist them with the new loading/ unloading bays they were having installed on their large new development site. The area was 30m wide, which they estimated could accommodate at least 3 loading/ unloading bays. Due to the process operators would have to get on top of the tankers for venting and occasional sampling, so the bays would require access and fall prevention equipment.
Challenges
We faced two key challenges in designing the solution for Lanchester Wines. The first of these was a 1.2m high access door that they had requested connect to the gantry access step. The access platform would have to be designed to accommodate this. The second was that the orientation of the bays meant that tankers would be reversing under the platform in order to access the bays. The gantry would need to be high enough that the tankers would easily clear the underside of the platform.
Solution
IFC recommended a 12m Gantry which would allow 3 tankers to comfortably enter and exit the loading bays by reversing underneath the platforms. We also supplied 3 sets of 4 step folding stairs, 1 for each bay, that can be used to access the tops of the tankers from the loading platform.
IFC recommended a 12m gantry which 3 tankers had the ability to reverse underneath and 3 sets of folding stairs so all 3 tankers could be accessed from the top at the same time. We also provided a bespoke intermediate platform so operators could walk up to the warehouse access door and also walk out onto the gantry.
Outcome
The installation was a great success and the project went smoothly from start to finish. The customer can now operate on 3 tankers at a time which significantly reduced the resources needed to carry out operations.
The fixed Gantry means workers are now safeguarded against falls while working on top of tankers. We ensured that the solution was still working as expected and that the clients were still happy with a number of follow-up visits to check on the system. The system has appeared to have greatly improved operations, and the client is very happy with the outcome.
