Ground Protection Mats for Construction Sites

Heavy-duty machinery, industrial vehicle traffic, and heavy supplies sitting around in large amounts – all these elements are constants on most construction sites, making safety a key concern. But while running a safe, sensible operation starts with protecting employees and passing pedestrians from potential harm, it shouldn’t stop there.

Smart, thorough ground protection is also a key concern, as it’s essential for preventing erosion, minimizing liability, and avoiding potential safety hazards. However, your options aren’t limited to old standbys like metal plates or plywood anymore.

Reusable ground protection mats make it easier than ever to protect the ground and support optimal safety at your job sites. In this comprehensive introduction to construction ground mats, we’ll show you how, as well as explain the benefits of making the switch yourself.

Benefits of Composite Ground Protection Mats

Managing a construction project well means turning to the right tools for the job on every level – tools that are cost-effective, efficient, and reliable. Let’s take a look at how reusable construction mats help with this.

Durability and strength

Traditionally, construction site managers turned to solutions like plywood or metal plating to keep the ground intact during specific projects. But individual boards or plates are prone to slippage. Plus, strength issues associated with plywood mean damage and frequent replacement, while metal plates require special machinery to move them from one place to another.

Composite mats, on the other hand, do the same job a lot better for a fraction of the cost and labor. They’re also stronger, more flexible, and highly resistant to wear and tear, so you can use them again and again.

Lightweight and portable

Complications like the need for special heavy lifting machinery or frequent replacement materials add up to frustration, wasted time, and wasted money with ground protection solutions like plywood and metal plating.

However, composite ground protection mats are made with ease of use in mind. They’re easy to transport, store, and install. And once they’re in place, they stay put and remain functional for the duration of your project. No more constant replacements, high fuel costs, and wasted labor! 

Safety features

Composite ground protection mats come with superior safety features built right in, making it easier to maintain a safe, low-liability work site. To begin with, they’re specially designed to provide vehicles of all types – including heavy industrial options – with better, more stable support.

They also feature non-slip texturing that keeps accidents to a minimum. The likelihood of slip-and-fall injuries, collisions, vehicle-related accidents, and more is a lot lower.

Environmental and Financial Benefits

It’s not just your staff, your equipment, and any visitors to your construction site you need to worry about when it comes to safety. Construction site companies and project managers have a responsibility to the environment, as well.

Ground protection mats help keep your sites in compliance with important regulations while safeguarding the local environment. They help save you money, time, and resources, as well. Here’s how.

Prevent ground erosion

Composite ground mats are specially designed to effectively distribute the weight of heavy vehicles and equipment across a large surface area. This helps minimize damage to underlying vegetation and prevent compaction of the soil, preserving the ground underneath your mats as thoroughly as possible.

Cost-effectiveness and reusability

Sustainable materials like ground protection mats definitely support a healthier planet and environment by keeping waste to an absolute minimum. However, they’re also a more efficient choice from a budget standpoint.

Unlike plywood boards, which are easily destroyed and call for constant replacement, ground protection mats stay functional and intact throughout the duration of a project.

In fact, composite mats are so tough and durable that you don’t need to replace them at all. When one project concludes, you simply collect your mats and store them away for use during future projects. 

Sustainability in construction

Sustainability is every contractor’s responsibility, and choosing the right supplies to use on the job is a huge part of that. Switching from plywood or metal plating to ground protection mats helps you run your business more sustainably in ways like the following:

• The fact that you can reuse composite mats means less worksite waste.
• Using composite ground protection mats instead of alternatives like wood helps lower the need for timber and preserve the integrity of our forests.
• Composite Ground protection mats are made from non-toxic materials, such as high-density polyethylene (HDPE), which helps to minimize contamination risks.
• When your composite ground protection matting does reach the end of its life cycle, it’s fully recyclable, helping to keep your company’s environmental footprint to a minimum.
• Ground protection mats don’t absorb chemicals and other toxic compounds, so there’s little risk of transferring potential contaminants from one site to another.

How Ground Protection Mats Support Lean Construction

Lean construction is a term on everyone’s lips these days when it comes to construction, and with good reason. It plays right into the industry’s ongoing dedication to sustainability.

As a concept, lean construction is about maximizing value while minimizing waste. It means getting the job done to the highest possible standards while applying only the materials, labor, and effort necessary. The result is a better experience for everyone, from project managers to workers to clients.

Ground protection mats play right into an ongoing dedication to lean construction in multiple ways. Here are some examples:

• They reduce wasted resources like materials (e.g. wood), labor, and fuel costs.
• They keep site-related damage (and the need to fix it) to an absolute minimum.
• They make work sites more efficient by ensuring the job of ground protection is done properly the first time.
• They reduce the possibility of a project running over schedule. Projects may even be done early, as teams don’t have to waste their time on unnecessary tasks.

Running a company that’s dedicated to lean construction principles is also a desirable differentiator for many contracting brands. People (including your clients) want to do business with companies that care about efficiency and their environmental impact.

Efficiency and resource savings

As any experienced job site manager can tell you, nothing eats into a project’s budget faster than the need to keep replacing materials that are easily used up.

There’s always the possibility that you’ll go through more of those materials than planned, which drives up spending. And you need manpower to facilitate all those replacements, too. Someone needs to remove the broken materials, truck in replacements, and spend time on reinstallation. This can add up to a small fortune in costs related to materials, labor, and fuel.

Switching to ground protection mats stops all that in one easy, simple step. They make it easier to accurately budget time, money, and resources for your projects, as well as save you money over time. You can then pass those savings on to your own clients.

Lean into Sustainable Construction with Ground Protection Mats

Smart, sustainable solutions like ground protection mats serve everyone with no downside. They’re convenient, efficient, and eco-friendly. They’re also a solid way to help your company step into the future by embracing lean construction.

Ready to discover even more incredible ways to help your construction company reach its full potential? Check out our comprehensive guide to lean construction and get started today!