Jack Tighe Ltd was awarded the contract to scaffold, encapsulate, blast and prime this old bridge over the River Don in September 2018 by Amco Rail.

The improvement works were designed to boost access to the Marshgate shopping area and improve pedestrian links to the town centre. The work on the bridge permitted an increase from 7.5 tonnes to 40 tonnes within the safe parameter of the bridge design.

The number of workers employed by Jack Tighe Ltd was approximately 20; generally 6 to 8 blasting and 5 painters on the day shift, followed by 6 cleaning on the night shift.

We subcontracted the scaffold and encapsulation aspects of the work to 2 existing members of our approved supply chain, SGS and Envirowrap respectively.

The existing paint contained lead and consequently the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002 applied to this contract. Accordingly we undertook face fit testing and blood tests for lead levels throughout the contract and utilised our Company owned vacuum grit recovery units, sealed skips, dust extraction equipment and decontamination units.

All Jack Tighe Ltd employees involved in grit blasting/cleaning operations were given a Lead at Work toolbox talk, which included the following:

  • Control measures to be adopted
  • Personal hygiene
  • Health hazards associated with lead
  • Medical surveillance
  • Duties of the employer and employee under the Control of Lead at Work Regulations

The site supervisor/operatives undertook daily ‘Take 5’ point of work assessment checks before work commenced to identify if any extra safety precautions were required.

The specification called for:

  • Scaffold erection and encapsulation prior to grit blasting
  • Blast clean to achieve BS7079 A1 Standard Sa2½ (BS EN ISO 8501-1)
  • Apply by spray Interseal 670HS to achieve a dry film thickness of 125 mic (wft 160 mic)
  • Apply by brush Interseal 670HS colour stripe coat to all edges, welds and bolts/nuts
  • Apply by spray Interseal 670HS colour to achieve a dry film thickness of 125 mic (wft 160 mic)
  • Apply by spray Interthane 990 colour to achieve a dry film thickness of 50 mic (wft 90 mic)


Prior to work commening, air quality and breathing air purity test certificates were obtained. Health and safety/ environmental/quality site audits and risk assessments were carried out at regular intervals during the work by our NACE/ICorr accredited Paint Inspectors and Nebosh accredited Health & Safety Officers.

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