Ramps & Covers
HERMEQ supplies trench covers and kerb ramps for street works, utility works, construction sites and temporary event layouts. The range carries everything from pedestrians and wheelchair users on a diverted footway to HGVs crossing a carriageway excavation. It includes footway and driveway boards, composite and steel road plates, manhole and hole covers, and temporary kerb ramps.
Covers come in portable and semi-permanent formats. Bolt-down boards and plates stay fixed for longer works, while loose-laid and flexible-edge covers suit short jobs and trenches that advance along a street. Most of the range is made in our own UK manufacturing, and much of it is available for next day delivery.
Types of trench covers and road plates
Trench covers bridge a linear excavation, hole and manhole covers close a single opening, and pipe road ramps carry a pumping line across a road that stays open to traffic.
Footway boards and pedestrian trench covers
Footway boards, also called walk boards or trench ramps, cover a narrow trench across a pavement, footpath or site walkway so the route stays open while cable, fibre, water or gas work goes on below. Their low profile and anti-trip edges keep the step on and off small enough for wheelchairs and pushchairs. The range includes LowPro pedestrian trench covers and the Tuff Tread footway board, all in high-visibility yellow.
Driveway trench cover boards
Where a service trench crosses the entrance to a house, shop or yard, driveway trench cover boards keep the property open to cars while the connection is made. The LowPro 15/10 was commissioned by National Grid for this job, and the driveway board has PVC skirts that grip the surface beneath it.
Composite road plates
Composite road plates are a modular system of inner and end sections that lock together into a carriageway crossing to the length of the trench. They suit utility trenches across live roads and site entrances, and crossings laid at the end of a shift and lifted the next morning.
Steel road plates
Steel road plates are the long-established cover for roadworks, haul roads and site entrances where an excavation stays open for weeks and works traffic crosses all day. HERMEQ makes square and rectangular steel road plates with plain or gripped surfaces, and long steel trench cover plates that line up along the opening of a narrow trench.
Temporary trench bridges
A trench too wide for any board is crossed on a temporary trench bridge. The Passerelle is an aluminium walkway with foldable handrails and an anti-slip deck, made in lengths from 2 to 6 metres, and it folds flat and stacks for transport. It does the job footway boards are often wrongly asked to do, which is carrying people over a wide excavation on boards laid end to end or past their rated span.
Temporary manhole and hole covers
The lockable temporary manhole cover drops into a chamber and locks with a key, so site vehicles can drive over a manhole between service phases. Where a chamber is left open and kept clear of traffic, the yellow cone-shaped open manhole cover stands over the frame as a physical and visual warning. For core holes and service penetrations in floors during fit-out, push-fit hole covers press in on spring legs with no tools, and larger openings take screw-down hole covers fixed at each corner.
Pipe road ramps
A pipe road ramp carries a water or sewage pumping line across a road inside a low-profile steel ramp, so over-pumping can run without closing the road, digging a crossing or scaffolding the hose overhead. It is the cover for sewer bypass, flood response and dewatering where hoses would otherwise be crushed by traffic, and units join for crossings over more than one lane.
Pedestrian, driveway and road-rated trench covers
The heaviest user that crosses and the width of the trench decide the cover, in that order. Footway boards are rated for pedestrians and wheelchair users over the narrow trenches dug for cables, fibre and service connections, and they are right wherever vehicles are kept off the route. Driveway boards take the wheel of a car or light van and span wider excavations, so they also cover a footway trench too wide for a footway board. On the carriageway, composite road plates carry vehicles up to 44 tonnes, and steel road plates take construction plant and HGVs on longer-running works. Pumping lines crossing a live road go through the pipe road ramp, which is rated to 70 tonnes.
Width settles the rest. Every board and plate has a maximum trench span on its product page, and it carries its rated load only over a gap within that span, so the excavation is best measured at its widest point before ordering. Once the width passes what a board covers, the step up is to a road plate for vehicles or to the temporary trench bridge for pedestrians.
Steel, composite and plastic road plates
For a crossing that steel and composite plates can both carry, the decision turns on what happens on site from day to day.
Lifting and handling
Steel road plates are placed by excavator or crane using the lifting eye in each corner, or with a permanent magnetic lifter. Composite road plates are laid by two people one section at a time, and footway and driveway boards are one or two person lifts, so a utility gang can cover a trench without waiting for plant. Plastic and composite covers suit works that move along a street, and steel suits sites where lifting plant is already working.
Fixing covers in place
Steel plates in a live carriageway are held against movement from passing traffic with road plate securing collars. Composite road plate sections lock together with drop pins and can be anchored through pre-drilled points. The bolt-down LowPro 16/12 trench cover is fixed to the ground for footway crossings that stay longer. The LowPro 11/11 trench cover grips with a flexible edge and needs no anchors, so it can be laid on block paving or tarmac where drilling is not allowed.
Surface grip and traffic noise
Where tyres brake or turn on a plate, or pedestrians share the crossing, anti-skid road plates carry a bonded resin and bauxite coating. Anti-slip road plates have a coarser aggregate finish for a heavier grip under tyres and boots. Chamfered steel road plates have sloped edges that ease wheels on and off and reduce the noise of tyres striking a square edge.
Temporary kerb ramps for pavements and footways
Wheelchair kerb ramps
When street works divert pedestrians into a lane marked with cones and street works signs, a ramp at each kerb keeps the route open to wheelchair users, mobility scooters and pushchairs. These temporary pavement ramps belong in the same order as the footway boards, because a level board over the trench does nothing for a wheelchair user if the diversion ends at a raised kerb. The Right Ramp wheelchair kerb ramp has tactile rails that guide visually impaired pedestrians. The portable wheelchair ramp stacks for transport between jobs, and both are laid by one person without fixings.
Kerb access ramps
The kerb access ramp is a light ramp with carrying handles for a single kerb crossing. Facilities and site teams use it to wheel trolleys and tools over a kerb at yards, loading bays, depots and event entrances.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between a trench cover and a road plate?
A trench cover is usually a board laid over a narrow excavation in a footway or driveway, rated for pedestrians or the wheel of a light vehicle. A road plate is a heavier cover for the carriageway, made in steel or composite and rated for vehicles up to HGVs. The trade uses the terms loosely, and steel road plates are often called trench plates.
What standards apply to trench covers at street works?
HAUC 2018/01 is the street works advice note for temporary trench covers, and several footway and driveway boards in the range are tested against it. BS EN 124 is the load testing standard for covers over chambers, and the temporary manhole cover is load tested to it. BS 7976 is the slip resistance test for walking surfaces, which the driveway board is certified to.
What sizes do steel road plates come in?
HERMEQ steel road plates run from 1250mm square up to 3000 x 1500mm, in thicknesses from 12mm to 25mm. The 2500 x 1250mm plate is the metric size that takes the place of the traditional 8x4 road plate.
Can road plates be used on the public highway?
Yes, road plates are used on the public highway at street works and road works. Plates in a live carriageway are signed and guarded under the Safety at Street Works and Road Works code of practice, as any other works are.
What kerb heights do temporary kerb ramps fit?
The Right Ramp and the portable wheelchair ramp are both made for kerbs from 75mm to 125mm high. They sit against the kerb face with no fixings, so they can be moved as a diversion changes.