Winter Service Plan 2008-9 (Abridged Version)
9.0 How do we deliver the service?
9.1 There are three distinct methods of delivering the service:
• “Fire Brigade” type of service whereby resources are kept on stand-by, ready to react quickly to call-outs to treat before the event.
• Continuous presence on the road network in the form of patrols equipped to undertake treatments and with the facility to call out assistance if required.
• Pre-planned actions, which is the method currently practised, are determined upon receipt of the weather forecast. These actions are occasionally subject to alterations in accordance with updated information.
All these methods impact on the working arrangements for the rest of the working day for SBcContracts. Winter service cannot be delivered in isolation (usually outwith working hours) if the cost is not to become prohibitive.
9.2 As monitoring of weather, particularly the detection of rainfall, becomes more technologically sophisticated there may be an opportunity to modify the method by which the service is delivered. However, meanwhile, the current (pre-planned) method is appropriate. Covering the same routes with fewer vehicles could have disadvantages of reducing the capability in severe snow events.
9.3 The code simply recommends treatment in advance of the event. It also suggests that salt treatments may remain effective against hoar frost for 24 hours, if there has been no rain. In such circumstances a check is recommended. Legal judgments suggest that it would be bad practice to carry out this check other than in a loaded gritter. Consequently, in the absence of a device to determine overall level of residual salt, the operative tends to err on the side of caution and re-treats the road.
Unified Solutions.