?Geotech came to us with a problem,? said Gary Millar, managing director of Enerpac distributor Gino Hydraulics. ?The contractors were using big lever crowbars to move the rocks so they could position jacks behind them.
With an amount of large rocks loosened by the earthquake and threatening to tumble down onto a roadway below, a solution had to be found. The contractors found the bars and jacks too heavy and cumbersome to use on the hillside and slopes. The contractors were supplied with an Enerpac lifting bag. The 5.5kg lifting bag has a capacity to lift 12.9 tonnes.
The operators found the bags easy to handle, positioning them behind the boulders, inflating, then dislodging the boulder from the surrounding earth. The fact that the bag could fit into crevices as small as 28mm allowed the workers more power than anything else.
Nigel Gualter, general manager of Geotech, applauded the airbag. ?The airbag has now become an essential part of Geotech?s kit and the first thing to go into the toolbox, ? he said.
The lifting bags form a part of Enerpac?s range of low clearance lifting bags and their controls for lifting, pushing pressing or moving loads safely and smoothly. The bags use compressed air or water to achieve load capacities. Restricted access situations can differ from vehicles or machinery being replaced to lifting from softer surfaces in trenches and tunnels.
Source: Enerpac Australia/Whyte Public Relations