A specialty chemical company located in Virginia was looking for an improved bulk chemical loading solution for accessing the tops of their acid railcars while keeping their employees secure while unloading the chemicals. This seemed like a straightforward task at first, but in doing a site survey, it was discovered the work area was extremely tight and fraught with challenges.
The challenge was designing a solution to fit space constraints.
The space in the loading and unloading area was extremely tight, the track was on a curve and the railcar centerline was very short. A project requirement was to keep the existing platform and integrate a new loading rack solution. As you can see in the photos, the response from most companies would be “there’s no way we can do anything here”. Our team took the time to strategize about the project, get detailed measurements, and work with customers’ requirements and the work environment to engineer the best solution.
SafeRack came up with a solution to notch out and reinforce their existing platform.
Working closely with the customer and their in-house team, the SafeRack team modified the existing platform and designed and built a custom SafeRack SST elevating safety cage that was top mounted to the customer’s existing concrete work surface and loading platform. Between beefing up their existing platform and building a 4′ gangway and custom safety cage, the chemical company now has a safe and efficient loading area. Both, the customer and the SafeRack team consider the project a success, overcoming challenges in a clever way.
