Safety Considerations When Clearing a Site

Preparing a jobsite for construction often requires the removal of vegetation, trees, boulders, and rubbish that are located in the work area. It seems simple enough. All you need to do is get a bulldozer, skid-steer or front-end loader, push everything out of the way and you are ready to go, right? Wrong. The pros know that there is more to land clearing than that. They also know there are hazards and that safety is a major concern.

 

Grubbing is another part of a site clearing operation which requires the removal of roots and stumps. In some clearing operations it is also necessary to strip away the sod and topsoil. Clearing, grubbing, and stripping are accomplished with the help of heavy equipment. Hand and power tree-felling equipment are also routinely used. When preparing to clear a jobsite and determining what method(s) will be used, contractors must consider the acreage to be cleared, the density of the forest and vegetation, the effect of the terrain on equipment operation, the availability of equipment and trained personnel, and the time available to complete the job.

Contractors often subcontract large site clearing operations to site clearing excavation contractors who have trained workers and special equipment. Such equipment might include hydrobunchers equipped with tree shears and saws capable of cutting trees up to 30 inches in diameter, tree skidders that can bundle and transport logs and tree material, whole tree chippers that can gobble up and spit out trees up to 30 inches in diameter, and hydrastumpers that can grind stumps of all sizes into pulp.