Masonry Magazine February 1997 Page. 24
Mortar Delivery
Continued from previous page
Patania Masonry in Salinas, California, has reduced their total cost of the job by 5% to 7% due to labor savings and relocatablity of silos. "We rarely have a man standing at the mixer and our mortar station is very mobile. Our lift operator makes the mud and the silo follows the masons and our scaffolding. When I consider eveything from labor to clean up to waste, the system saves our company as much as $15.00 per yard", says Albert Patania, Vice President.
Silos Reduce Back Injury
Making mortar in the field is a task that involves a great degree of repetitive motion. It is quite possible for a laborer on a commerical job site to shovel 10 yards of damp sand while lifting the required 100 bags of cementitious products in a given day. The combined weights of these materials to be shoveled and lifted to the mixer, is an estimated 33,000 pounds in an eight hour period. The work related musculosketel injuries (back strain) associated with mortar become highly probable in this work environment. The potential cost for these claims are alarming. According to Ron Lewis, with Witcher Construction Company, "A typical back injury can cost as much as $100,000.00, which greatly effects the profitablity of the job. Looking at the big picture, if a contractor suffers more than one claim during the course of a year, their experience factor rating increases as well as workmans compensation expense.
Patania Masonry has used the silo system consistenly for the past two years with proven safety benefit. Since we started using a portable silo we have not experienced a single back injury on any of our jobs. This is our busiest year with an average of 12 silos divided among all our current jobs. The risk of a field mixing back injury is too high," says Albert Patania of Patania Masonry. "Our goal is to keep our experience factor down to improve our ability to competitively bid projects."
Quality, efficiency and consistency... three benefits which are a common thread between owner, designer and builder. When coupled with worksite safety concerns, silo mortar delivery systems will be as commonplace on job sites as mixers and forklifts.
Editors Note: Brian Carney is the Western Region Manager for Spec Mix, Inc., Vandnais, MN. The Spec Mix System will be on display at this year's Masonry Expo. Spec Mix is providing the mortar and labor for the Fastest Trowel Competition at the MASONRY EXPO.
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