geotechnicsblog-blog

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Back in 2011 we lifted a drill rig down the front of Wimbleball Dam and untertook a ground investigation in advance of construction of a grout curtain to address suspected leakage. Our solution included digital packer testing. Read more in our Geotopics article here, or read about the @bachysoletanche construction project in the latest edition of @GeoDrilling Magazine #startwithgeotechnics

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Staff Spotlight: Mike Coates 

What is your role at Geotechnics and what does it involve?

I’ve recently taken on the role of SHEQ Manager (Safety, Health, Environment and Quality), after 3 years as the company Health and Safety Manager.

This means I’m effectively responsible for the overall control of the safety, quality and environmental management systems and ensuring compliance across the company.

How long have you been working for Geotechnics?

It's flown by! Since 2015, so over 3 years now.

Can you describe your career journey to becoming a SHEQ Manager?

I started in the construction industry as a trainee contracts manager in about 1991, aged 17. I spent four or five years on site learning all the various different trades before I went into contracts management, looking after building refurbishment projects throughout the UK and overseas.

For a few years, I traveled the world with work. I spent a lot of time in Germany. It was the first overseas project I worked on. I then spent a bit of time in Moscow, Switzerland, Jamaica, and Africa. I’m sure there's loads of others that I can't remember but they're the main ones that spring to mind.

I first got involved in health and safety in 2007 in my previous role working for a steeplejack company. That was pretty much as a direct result of the company I was working for having to deal with a serious incident. They asked me to complete my CITB SMSTS training and NEBOSH General Certificate.  I then took on the role of health and safety coordinator.

As my career progressed, I self-funded my NVQ Level 5 to get to the level I wanted to be at and then started to look for a dedicated role within health and safety.

How would you describe a typical day in your role as SHEQ Manager?

Up until recently, my role as health and safety manager typically involved site inspection or auditing of the existing management system, and ensuring compliance with the latest standards.  It also involved investigation of accidents, incidents and near misses and then looking at ways to continue to improve the safety culture of the organisation, as well as providing health and safety advice to all levels within the organisation.

With my role as SHEQ Manager, going forward my first job will be to carry out a gap analysis on the existing system and look at how we can streamline and improve the system within the organisation, moving more toward an electronic version of the three systems that are then integrated with each other.

What do you think have been your biggest achievements so far in your time at Geotechnics?

The obvious one is going to be the GO SAFE campaign developed between myself and Dave Cage, our Business Development Manager. I’m proud of where it's taking the culture of the organization.

Going forward in my new role there may be a different twist. We might incorporate environmental and quality issues into GO SAFE, or as an offshoot. That's the whole idea of integrating the systems. I'm looking at how we can bring the quality and environmental into inspections and what new topics could be addressed. Waste is one topic that comes to mind.

What is your favourite part of your job?

I like the interaction with different people. I still like getting out on site and there’s always a nice variety of site locations to visit. I don’t like being stuck in one location all the time. It’s something I'm very keen not to lose as I take on my new role.

There’s definitely a contrast between dealing with people on site and being in a senior management role, dealing with strategy and decision making for the whole organisation. Being able to communicate at all levels is key to improving the culture of the organisation.

What advice would you give to someone taking their first steps in the construction industry, and specifically SHEQ management?

There is now is a student route into IOSH (the International Organization for Safety and Health), but I would personally advocate that people need to have relevant construction industry experience before locking on to a career in health and safety. I think it gives you a good technical knowledge of how to control hazards before you start going down a dedicated health and safety route.

What do you think are the biggest changes and challenges within the industry going forward?

I think from a health and safety perspective the focus recently seems to have started to move more away from the safety and some of the challenges going forward are going to be related more towards well-being and health. It’s key that we focus our attention on increasing our understanding of mental health and wider occupational health issues.

One of the other biggest changes will be the introduction of technology on sites to handle the large amounts of data we produce and to assist us in moving away from paper documents.  Over the next few months we will be trialing the use of tablet computers on site to give engineers access to all the company standard documents and forms.

What do you like to do outside of work?

I do quite a lot for IOSH in my current volunteer role as a committee member with the Manchester and North West district branch of IOSH.  I also act as a chair and panel member on the PRI (Peer Review Interview) panel for charterships. Within the last couple of weeks, I've also taken on a role as a registered mentor for people wanting to achieve chartered status.

Outside of work my focus at the moment is around running and fitness. I've already entered an event in September next year to run up Snowdon.

What advice do you have for anyone looking to become chartered?

If we're looking at the interview panels and the types of people we get in I think that candidates tend to try and over-complicate the answers and I think that maybe sometimes they would benefit from going back to basic core health and safety knowledge.

What is a surprising fact that people might not know about you?

Well, I completed the London Marathon in 2002 with my parents and raised money for a local hospital where my son was born.

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What is an engineer?

Being an engineer can also mean investigating the ground beneath your feet! Lottie's been in our stores logging core, looking at the window sample rigs, checking the dipmeters work and checking the geological maps #lottietour @lottie_dolls #TEWeek18 @tomorrowsengineers #engineeringforall @geolsoc @britgeosurvey #womeninengineering#engineeringfutures #engineering #STEM

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Ground vs Bricks: Why Ground Investigation is So Important 

When you are planning a new project, you want to know that every brick you will use will be fit for purpose. You can go to the manufacturer’s website and find out its size to the millimetre, its tolerance, its durability, its strength... All the information you need will be there.

That is because it has been made to exact specifications and carefully quality-controlled. The same is true of any other component of the structure you are planning to build: from the glass in the windows to the tiles on the roof. But what about the ground you will put your structure on?

Can it take the weight? How much will it settle? What is the likelihood of flooding or subsidence? You can’t find that out from any manufacturer. You can only learn this from a ground investigation.

The ground you build upon is the legacy of geological and climatic processes since the earth was formed, as well as more recent man-made activity. You cannot change it: you have to accept it for what it is and work with it.

The bricks you use are designed and manufactured to tight tolerances and specifications. But what good is knowing all this about your building materials if you don’t understand the ground you’re building on? The ground is not aware of the millions of pounds invested in your project, but it is fundamental to its success and sustainability.

In his John Mitchell Award lecture at the ICE, our chairman Len Threadgold made this clear. “The ground never lies and is not aware of the qualifications of the engineers involved or the sophistication of any analysis used. It will behave as nature dictates. The skill of experienced engineers is in understanding this and using their knowledge”.

“What has to be understood is that every single construction project is a prototype – a one off. Even when you’re building similar structures, the ground beneath them will differ. The interaction between the structure and the ground will be unique”.

That is why good quality ground investigation is so important. To find out how we can assist your next project, please contact our teams across the UK.

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[Photo] Our specialist modular rig enables us to access hard-to-reach parts of the rail network 

Rail Geotechnics Site Investigation Case Study: NWEP

The North West Electrification Project (NWEP) is working towards the electrification of over 300km of the rail network, improving key routes between towns and cities including Manchester, Liverpool, Preston and Blackpool. From April 2016, Geotechnics carried out works to inform design of gantry installations for the proposed overhead line equipment on Phases 4 and 5.

We worked on track during weekend and midweek possessions, and our site investigations have primarily focused on collecting geotechnical and environmental information for the project. Another significant section of work has been aimed at locating and identifying shallow mine workings in the area.

The rail network presents a unique set of challenges, not least in gaining access to borehole locations with drilling rigs and significant amounts of equipment in this safety-critical environment. Geotechnics’ Project Manager Steven Chapman built up a strong working relationship with the client in order to overcome any issues. Our collaborative approach – including early engagement with the client, liaison with stakeholders, regular progress reporting and change control – has been critical to our success on the project.

One solution for accessing borehole locations was Geotechnics’ specialist modular dynamic sampling rig. This rig can be broken down into its constituent parts, which enables it to be moved more quickly and easily into hard-to-reach areas than conventional equipment allows. We have also used Road Rail Vehicles (RRVs) to lift rigs and equipment into positions in the cess, 4 foot and onto station platforms.

Off-track works have also been completed for proposed distribution compounds, as well as an investigation for a proposed section of horizontal directional drilling to install 25kv electrical cabling. This section of the works included deep rotary boreholes, in-situ packer permeability testing and specialist rock testing.

On completion of significant geotechnical, rock, concrete and environmental laboratory testing, Geotechnics produced factual and interpretive reports on time and on budget. These reports include data sheets for each gantry location, detailing the ground conditions, foundation solutions, groundwater conditions and environmental considerations.

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[Photo] Len Threadgold (right) alongside Chair of the British Geotechnical Association Martin Preene.

RE-THINKING SITE INVESTIGATION 

Geotechnics’ founder and Chairman Len Threadgold spoke at the ICE on 24 January to mark over half a century in ground investigation. His lecture, following his receipt of the John Mitchell Award, focused on the need to re-think site investigation: from architects and engineers to contractors and GI specialists.

With a full house of nearly 300 people and many more watching online, Len reflected on his experience and talked about his ideas for the future of the industry: “At this time, the primary means of unleashing the benefits of good site investigation to the construction industry is by better procurement strategies that seek value, experience and quality rather than lowest differential cost. Site investigations need to be designed and specified by engineers with considerable experience, not delegated to inexperienced junior staff.”

“Those who think that gaining knowledge is expensive should reflect on the cost of ignorance”.

ABOUT LEN THREADGOLD

Len has been involved in geotechnical work for over half a century. Following his studies at Liverpool University, civil engineering design in London and site work in Scotland, he joined Cementation’s site investigation department where he learned a lot. He subsequently joined Exploration Associates in the Midlands in 1973, and in 1979 set up his consultancy in geotechnical engineering, becoming involved in numerous projects in the UK and Hong Kong. In 1983 he founded Geotechnics Limited to cover the full spectrum of site investigation and this has grown substantially to become one of the largest independent specialists in the country.

A former chairman of ICE West Midlands, Len is passionate about the contribution which site investigation and geotechnical understanding can bring to projects. He has always been active in the Midland Geotechnical Society and was a founder member of the Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists, convening and subsequently chairing the working party which produced the AGS Format for digital transfer of geotechnical data. This innovation is key to geotechnical design on such major projects as Crossrail and HS2, and celebrated its 25th Anniversary at the AGS conference in Birmingham on 20th September 2017.

ICE members can view a recording of the lecture online. To learn more about Geotechnics' site investigation work throughout the UK, please get in touch.