Storming It

Eight-hour round trips for jobs are nothing new here at PPS – our surveying has taken us to all corners of the country.

2024 started with such a journey. A trip south for a few days work seemed like the perfect way to kick off the new year.

Mother Nature had different ideas. We were greeted by an almighty storm – Henk to be precise – that brought strong wind and heavy rain.

Faced with unsafe conditions we were unable to enter the watercourse so utilised our long journey to survey all structures within the brief.

The job ahead of us should have been relatively routine. Survey two watercourses, consisting of 35 open channels and a small number of structures.

However, Storm Henk threw a spanner in the works. We’d have to return the following week to complete the job.

And so, the trip down the motorway was replicated seven days later and all the work that couldn’t initially be completed was ticked off in icy conditions.

Whilst the double journey might have been an inconvenience, we pride ourselves on our exceptional safety record. There was no chance we were starting the new year with a blemish on that record!

One advantage of the extra time on the roads was that the two-man team were able to demolish any remaining Christmas goodies in the car…perhaps no more chocolate for a few weeks though!