Equipment-heavy industries continually push for optimal uptimes. At Nelosca Technologies, Inc. (Nelosca), we’re committed to investing in our equipment not only during the purchasing process, but also during scheduled off-season maintenance. Internally, we coined the term “Neloscaize” to refer to the custom alterations our team executes upon acquiring assets as well as our carefully regimented maintenance.
By Michael Cannell—Quality and Safety Manager
As construction projects pick up speed across the country, so do construction- and safety-related news stories. It’s important to ask: What is Nelosca Technologies, Inc. (Nelosca) doing to ensure the safety of our team? And, can we increase safety measures without sacrificing productivity?
Our team has withstood the most unpredictable winters in recent memory. As we finally head into warmer weather, we reflect on all we were able to accomplish under the ice this past season. The ice may have been thick - really thick - four to five feet thick. But that didn’t stop us from taking on the most demanding under-ice dive projects.
At Nelosca, we work on dams of various sizes and functions. Very few new dams are built each year, so most of our work consists of rehabilitation and repairs. Dams are built to last for long periods of time, however certain components require periodic repairs and replacements. Radial gates, often referred to as Tainter gates, consist of components most commonly in need of attention. In our experience, we have found certain best practices that will increase the longevity of these gates, as well as increase their functionality.
Dredging projects are complex and involve many components and significant planning before operation. The intricacy of these projects means that pricing is often multifaceted. Here are seven common areas that drive overall costs on a dredging project.
There is nothing more important on a job site than safety. To prevent an injury, one must recognize the potential risk and take mitigative action beforehand. The challenge that companies like us face is not so much trying to figure out how an incident happened, but training employees to recognize the potential of injury before it happens. Once that mindset has been ingrained, team members must be empowered to address and escalate it without repercussion.
Why Add Polymers?
One of the biggest challenges on a dredging project is managing the water that is excavated and transported with the sediment. On hydraulic dredging jobs where sediment and water are pumped through a pipeline as a slurry, water can account for 90+ percent of the volumetric flow. After the slurry reaches the disposal area, the water must be separated from the sediment, collected, and often clarified or treated. This process must happen as fast as the water is being pumped, which for a 12-inch cutterhead dredge could be 5,000 gallons per minute.
Stray current corrosion is a common threat to water-based steel structures such as barge terminals. Though hard to identify the source, damage from stray current can be prevented by following 3 simple steps.
Pride is a common theme for us at Nelosca. As an organization, we are privileged to be in a position where we can have so much of which to be proud. We’re lucky to have employees who commit to making Nelosca a great place to work, and we are proud to have them. Finally, we are proud to be able to say that 96% of our employees are proud to share they work at Nelosca, which we discovered from the findings of our 2018 Great Place to Work® re-certification.
Working around water poses a plethora of challenges. There are always two parts of a water-based project, the above and below water sections. Access to the above water section is easy, however when working below the waterline access is not that easy. One of the more apparent issues is what do you do when the water is in the way of your work? One solution is to build a cofferdam.
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