When excavating trenches, safety should be the number one objective for construction contractors. Safety is not only essential for workers but also for pedestrians and motorists. Notably, road plates provide safe crossing zones over trenches, thereby ensuring normal activities are not interrupted. This is especially the case in construction sites that receive high foot traffic. Therefore, construction contractors must buy the right road plates for every trench excavation project. This article provides a guide on what to look for in a road plate. Read on.

Anti-Skid Finish -- The primary role of road plates is to provide safe passage across a trench. Therefore, road plates should be strong enough to withstand the weight of people as well as vehicles. However, you have to factor in the fact that slippage is a common occurrence on some road plates, especially in wet conditions as is the case in most trench excavation sites. Therefore, it is critical to use road plates that are equipped with an anti-skid finish on their surface. The type of finish provides the necessary surface friction for users, thereby preventing potential slippage regardless of the weather conditions. If you ignore this and use smooth-surfaced road plates and slippage-related injuries take place, the chances are that you will be sued for negligence.

Corner Holes -- If you are going to use road plates, make sure that they are stable and stationary while in use. The last thing you need is a road plate that keeps moving in place while in use since it poses a danger to pedestrians and motorists. For this reason, you must buy or hire road plates that are equipped with corner holes. The holes help with anchoring the steel plates in place, thereby providing the necessary stability during usage. Therefore, irrespective of the weight placed on the road plates, you can rest assured they will stay put at all times.

Light Weight -- Trench excavations, especially in a busy site, can be very frustrating to workers, and the best way to avoid these frustrations is to keep interruptions to a minimum. However, this is only possible for construction companies that can quickly assemble and install the road plates in no time. Therefore, the road plates you hire or buy must be light enough to be carried and installed by at most two people per plate. It is especially the case for modular road plates since they have to be set side-by-side. Moreover, lightweight road plates eliminate the cost of using a crane which lowers operational costs.

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