courtyards and private roads. We work with a wide range of companies including Local Authorities, PCT’s, Hospitals and Medical Centres, Retail Premises & Parks, Schools and Colleges, Offices, Utility Companies, Industrial Estates, Residential Property, Property Management Companies, Facilities Management Companies and Car Park Management Companies.
Private Gritting – click here for a free quotation
Choosing a Private Gritting Company
Whenever there’s a risk of frost, ice or snow, as a car park owner, you have a duty of care to prevent slips and accidents. With our unpredictable weather, it’s a responsibility that can be difficult to manage, leaving you open to risk and potentially costly claims against you. Therefore it is paramount that you have the comfort and security of using a private gritting company that can offer you a reliable service. Ice Watch have over 6 years experience during some of the worst winters on record. We offer a comprehensive nationwide service, using the latest salt spreading equipment, giving you complete peace of mind.
Below is a guide to some of the qualities to look for in a private gritting company:
Reliability
Without a reliable gritting service in place for your car parks and pathways you are running the dangerous risk of leaving yourself open to potentially costly claims against your company.
Ice Watch has been operating for over 6 years. With over 80 clients and looking after over 140 individual sites around England, Scotland and Wales you know that Ice Watch has the experience and expertise to offer you the reliable service that your company needs for all of your ice and snow management requirements.
National Service
Choosing a company that operates nationwide ensures your car park gritting service is cost effective and environmentally friendly.
The nationwide service that Ice Watch offer enables your company to take advantage of our cost efficiencies, so that you get the best service for the best price. With operators across the country we can ensure that your company is never without a gritter nearby should the weather take a turn for the worst.
Because we use local operators it also means that we maximise our vehicle and fuel efficiency helping to take care of the environment by minimising our emissions.
Wherever you are based in the UK, we provide a complete and economical solution, with forecasting, site inspecting, gritting and record keeping – all carried out for you, without the need of monitoring and organisation on your part.
Ice Watch have 40 operators based across the country approximately 10 miles from each of our client’s sites. We ensure that when we take on a new client that we employ local operators to perform the gritting work. However, all of the forecasting and reporting work is carried out from our head office in Suffolk. We also have 45 strategically placed depots around the country to ensure that our operators have easy access to the salt.
Excellent Equipment
It is vital that the right equipment and salt is used to avoid unnecessary wastage which would mean extra costs to your business and could potentially harm the environment.
Our spreaders have their annual maintenance over the summer and each operator is required to wash down the spreaders every time they are used to ensure that the parts are not corroded by the salt. Each machine is calibrated to ensure the amount of de-icing salt used is carefully controlled for optimum spreading every time.
Comprehensive Service
Icy conditions can be hazardous and as a business it is your duty to ensure that your employees and anyone else who could be affected by your work (such as visitors, members of the public, patients etc) are kept safe from harm and that their health is not affected. This means risks must be controlled to ensure people do not slip, trip and fall.
Ice Watch provides its customers with complete peace of mind throughout the year whatever the weather. Our comprehensive service includes the following: we monitor weather conditions for you meaning that you are pro-active in avoiding icy conditions becoming a hazardous condition at your premises. When ice or snow are forecast , we notify you and our gritter will come and spread gritting salt on all at risk areas, helping to prevent ice forming. If heavy snow falls, our snow removal service can come and clear car parks, pathways, site entrances etc to protect all who visit your premises. Alongside this Ice Watch also have up to £10 million public liability insurance which by signing up to our contract services you are also covered by should someone slip, trip and fall at your premises due to icy conditions.
Environmentally Friendly
Choosing a green gritting company will help your business do its bit to help protect the environment. Things that should be considered include the economical use of salt, type of salt used, using operators based locally to the site to reduce mileage and ensuring gritting is only carried out when necessary.
Ice Watch are an environmentally conscious organisation, who acknowledge the impact that our operations may potentially have on the environment. Our clear objective is to prevent pollution, reduce waste and ensure wherever practical that measures are implemented to protect and preserve natural habitats, flora and fauna.
-
We promote environmental awareness amongst our suppliers, contractors and partners and take the environmental status of suppliers into account before placing them on our approved supplier list.
-
The de-icing salt that we purchase and use for providing our service is supplied in recyclable low density polyethylene bags, which are collected and recycled at a recycling facility.
-
All paper products used and marketing materials produced are either made from recycled materials and labelled as such, or are FSC certified and we are also looking at minimising packaging by not repackaging any materials used.
-
We only select operators that are based locally to the sites to be serviced (within approximately 10 miles) to minimise travelling and its environmental impact
-
We calibrate all our spreading equipment to ensure that the amount of de-icing salt used is carefully controlled and our reliable weather forecasts ensure that unnecessary visits are not made
-
We strive to ensure that all our activities are as energy efficient as possible by controlling and monitoring energy consumption.
-
Our salt suppliers are requested to complete environmental questionnaires to ensure that they have an environmental policy in place.
-
The specialist drop spreaders that we use minimises the potential for the de-icing salt damaging the grass and hedges which is important to wildlife.
Intelligent Weather Forecasting
It is vital that the weather is forecasted accurately and that gritting is done in a responsible manner for two reasons. First and foremost, it is important for the safety of the company’s employee’s and the public to ensure that gritting is carried out when it is needed. It is also important that gritting is not carried out unnecessarily to avoid wasted costs which also adds excess salt to the local environment.
Ice Watch's comprehensive gritting service includes full weather forecasting to prevent wasted gritting.
Weather is forecast for each site that has an Ice Watch contract by WeatherQuest. Reports from WeatherQuest are emailed to the Ice Watch Operations Manager, who analyses the data and makes the decision whether sites in that area require gritting based on the ground temperature being lower than -1 throughout the night and how much moisture there is on the ground. The business hours of the site are also taken into consideration to ensure that unnecessary gritting is not carried out. If the ground temperature is likely to change in the hours before the car parks, pathways and public areas are to be used then a decision may be made not to grit. Each client is emailed and sent a sms (text) to inform them that the decision to grit has been made.
Clients are given the chance to overturn the decision to grit and have an opportunity to contact Ice Watch to inform us that even though there is a high potential for icy conditions that they do not wish their car parks, pathways or public areas gritted.
All of the Ice Watch team have been trained by weather forecaster Jim Bacon who gave his insider’s guide to the science behind weather forecasting. Jim, who has been a meteorologist for over 35 years and worked for both the BBC and ITV, provided an insightful guide to understanding forecasts and assessing the risks of frost and snow.
“With the advanced training Jim has provided, together with the daily localised forecasts we receive from WeatherQuest, we’re better able than ever to consider all the different factors that govern the weather conditions when making the decision whether to grit”
Paul Bowling, Managing Director |
