Case Studies

The company

Tarmac Limited, established in 1903 employs 12,500 people globally and has an annual turnover of £1.2 billion. Tarmac Aggregate Products produces over 76 million tonnes of aggregate per year including cement, lime and mortar.

The situation

Tarmac Limited strives to maintain the highest levels standards of health and safety for all employees, contractors and members of the public, believing that safety is collectively everybody’s responsibility.
Loading shovels and other similar plant and vehicles used in quarry environments often have blind spots which can be hazardous when a driver is reversing. Camera monitor systems can eliminate the largest blind spot but when working in conditions with poor visibility such as thick dust, the driver may be unable to see objects in his danger zone.

The solution

Brigade fitted BACKSENSE to 15 of Tarmac's loading shovels. The pulsed radar system detects objects and people in the danger zone, providing the driver with a visual and audible warning. BACKSENSE provides a greater coverage range than is typical of other reversing aides including ultrasonic systems.

Products fitted

The BS1045 (4.5 metre range) BACKSENSE is ideal for heavy goods vehicles, construction vehicles and mobile plant machinery. Designed to work on the front, side or rear of vehicles, BACKSENSE is rugged and reliable; resistant to moisture (IP68), dust, vibration, heat, cold and glare.
BACKSENSE combines an LED visual warning and three levels of audio warning for the operator. Detection zones are programmable on heavy duty models via a laptop and can be set to ignore fixed objects, bodywork and attachments that are in the detection zone. Multiple sensors can be networked together to provide the greatest area of coverage. There is a choice of models with detection ranges from 3 metres up to 10 metres.