Tarmac turn to JCB
TARMAC National Contracting have purchased 41 new JCB 2CX Streetmaster backhoe loaders complete with HM25LV hand-held breakers.
Purchased from dealer Gunn JCB, Tarmac National Contracting now operate a fleet of 56 JCB 2CX backhoe loaders, which are purpose-built for roads maintenance. Forty-one of these are now equipped with the new HM25LV breakers, said to be the lowest vibration hand-held breakers ever built. Each breaker is permanently connected to the carrier machine’s hydraulics via a side-mounted hose reel.
The HM25LV is primarily used by Tarmac National Contracting for breaking-out asphalt and joint cutting as part of the road resurfacing process. It incorporates a new power cell to deliver the blow energy while a new concept in vibration control means that - at 1.59m/s (BS8662-5) - it is said to be the lowest vibration hand-held breaker made. This equates to a three-axis level of around 3.2m/s2. Operators can now safely use the breaker for a full 8h working day without risk of exceeding recommended HAV levels.
Tarmac’s National Plant Manager, Steve Wragg, said: ‘After an evaluation of the products available we were pleased to choose JCB. We have used Streetmaster backhoe models for a number of years as the base specification is tailor-made for our needs. When it came to specifying the hand-held breakers, some of our operators had trialled the JCB HM25LVs on demonstration and were impressed by the performance. In particular they highlighted the low height of the handle, which given that the use of hand-held breakers has been dramatically reduced with the introduction of the Streetmaster, provides a comfortable working position on the occasions when the breaker is used.
‘Within Tarmac, the health of our staff is of paramount importance particularly with regard to hand-arm vibration syndrome and the Streetmaster builds on a number of initiatives we have introduced across the company to help tackle the issue. As such, the vibration level of the breakers was the main driver in our decision-making process. Tests were carried out on the HM25LV, confirming JCB’s claims that they are the lowest available. The combination of these two factors produces an extremely operator-friendly piece of equipment. Furthermore, in an effort to improve productivity and deliver health and safety benefits to our workforce, each backhoe is kitted out with a HM165Q dipper-mounted breaker for heavy-duty work. These are proving to be extremely effective in reducing the need for the majority of traditional manual breaking tasks.’
JCB Sales Ltd, Rocester, Staffs ST14 5JP; tel: +44 (0)1889 590312; fax: +44 (0)1889 590588.
