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Safety-Led Contractor Collaboration: In Practice

16th, July 2025

Concrete skip HS2

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The Challenge

Our team of Application Engineers love finding solutions to the biggest challenges the industry faces today, not least the safety of personnel on-site.

Pouring concrete from a skip, predominantly column or tremie skips, is one of the last lifting operations in construction where personnel are positioned underneath a suspended load to operate the equipment. This endangers the safety of the operatives during every pour.

Recognising these hazards, Conquip collaborated closely with Select Plant Hire and Expanded, part of the Laing O’Rourke Group, and Balfour Beatty, to innovate safer solutions for concrete pouring. As a result, Conquip developed a range of optional extras to combat the dangers involved with the current, traditional method for concrete pouring.

The journey began in mid-2023, by developing a solution for safely using longer discharge hoses, up to 6 metres in length. The additional distance from the skip to the end of the hose increases the pressure on the hose clip and the flow speed of the concrete, presenting issues with the hose detaching from the skip and controlling the direction of pour.

“We’ve gone from the design area, to getting feedback from onsite teams, and carrying out a series of trials before [these attachments were] actually being manufactured and used on this site.”

“I feel it’s very beneficial working with contractors. Through collaboration, we can bring out a better, usable product for every site.”
Andy Greener | Technical Product Manager, Conquip

The Bauer Connection provides a secure, quick-release solution for attaching different lengths of hose to the skip, safely and efficiently, rather than refitting the hose and replacing the hose clip every time. Its slide-on, slide-off functionality makes it simple to attach and detach varying lengths of hose with minimal downtime and improved safety.

The next challenge was controlling a hose double the length of a standard 3-metre discharge hose. Conquip acted on feedback from Balfour Beatty and the Select Plant Hire site teams, who were using the equipment through Expanded, to develop the Hose Guide. This two-person accessory, designed with hooked ends, supports and guides the hose without requiring personnel to stand under the skip. Adjustable handles allow users to extend the Hose Guide to suit varying site conditions, ensuring operatives stay clear of the area beneath the skip during a pour.

Finally, the project group wanted to remove the need for operatives to stand underneath the skip to operate the flow gate. Conquip’s engineers developed the Extended Flow Gate Handle in close collaboration with all of the contractors, providing the same functionality as a standard flow gate but moving operatives further away from the skip during the pour and reducing the strain from operating the gate, improving personnel welfare. These innovations, made possible through collaboration with leading industry partners like Select Plant Hire, not only improve safety but also enhance operational efficiency on-site.

“We started by having a couple of workshops, getting involved with operatives that use the equipment on site, their feedback is vital in this process, because if it doesn’t work for them, there is no point making changes to any of the equipment.”

“We got the Conquip design team involved, and we worked in the background, getting the equipment to trials.”
Tom du Plessis | Senior Construction Manager, Balfour Beatty

“It’s absolutely great to have a good solid supply chain that backs safety on a daily basis.  Working with Conquip, they were open to making skips safer. We’ve got Expanded, Select, Balfour and BBVS on a project as a whole, and everybody is striving for exactly the same thing. It’s to make our industry safer and a better environment to work in every single day.”
Tom du Plessis | Senior Construction Manager, Balfour Beatty

“From a health and safety point of view, through this collaboration we are abiding by one of the golden lifting rules to never have anyone underneath a suspended load and it was brilliant to come to this solution that we now have on site.”
Niall Watson | Project Manager, Expanded

The Solution

Conquip’s range of optional extras reflects our commitment to protecting operatives and streamlining concrete pouring processes.

The attachments are already being used by a variety of Tier 1 and other contractors on live projects around the UK and continue to be used at Old Oak Common.

“Following extensive trials we have been able to reach an outcome which delivers safety improvements whilst also considering time, cost effectiveness and the ability to retro-fit the innovation to our current fleet, ensuring a long-lasting improvement to operative safety.”
Declan Brown | AP/Lead Crane Supervisor, Select Plant Hire

“It’s been incredibly rewarding to work with like-minded, safety-focused individuals and organisations. Collaboratively, we’ve challenged the status quo and moved beyond the mindset of ‘this is how it’s always been done’ to achieve something that has the potential to save lives.”
Tom Barrow | Product Leader, Select Plant Hire

Learn more about our Concrete Skip attachments