that will seek to mitigate, if not eliminate, the possibility of
loss of equipment or life associated with constructing from
an inadequate working platform. With that understanding,
the entire industry is indebted to the work of the WPWG.
The working group has spent many hours researching, writing,
debating, rewriting and championing this initiative.
Since the signing of the 2018 position statement, the WPWG
has sought to answer the following questions:
1. What’s been done by other entities around the world that
should be reviewed and considered during the formation
this WPWG guidance document?
2. What will need to be defined in order to draft
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industry-wide guidance?
3. What criteria will be used to determine whether an
engineered analysis (and potentially, an engineered platform)
will be necessary?
4. Who will be responsible for certifying that the existing or
engineered platform is suitable for the proposed equipment?
5. Who will be responsible for inspecting and maintaining the
platform once constructed?
6. What are the keys to a successful implementation of the
working platform guidance?
Minus a state or federal regulation dictating an approach
to assess and design working platforms in the United States,
the specialty foundation contractor has been left to its own
internal experience and devices with respect to the analysis
and process it uses to assess a site and make recommendations
for the remediation required prior to the start of foundation
construction. Fortunately, the WPWG was able to rely upon two
initiatives that have been in place for years as a starting point for
its review and recommendations.
Under the direction of a UK-based Federation of Piling
Specialists Steering Group, the Building Research Establishment
(BRE) published a report in 2004 entitled BR470. A copy of the
report can be purchased at www.brebookshop.com. Intended to
be a good practice guide for the design, installation, maintenance
and repair of ground-supported working platform, this document
has served to reduce the rate of rig turnover in areas where its
approach has been implemented.
Effective July 1, 2016, the province of Ontario introduced a
regulation (Ontario Regulation 213/91, section 156) prescribing
that projects utilizing drilling rigs exceeding a certain bearing
pressure would require a professional engineer to design
a supporting surface adequate for the full range of drilling
activities planned.
More recently, the European Federation of Foundation
Contractors (EFFC) and the Deep Foundations Institute (DFI)
published the Guide to Working Platforms. It can be downloaded
at www.effc.org.
What’s the process that’s been used to develop the North
American WPWG guidance?
WORKING PLATFORMS
100 | ISSUE 6 2020 www.piledrivers.org
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