
New Soils Guidance documents are available to download here
This newly updated guidance has been produced for managers of quarry operations, mineral planners, restoration specialists, consultants and earthmoving contractors, whilst its applications also extend to the civil engineering and wider construction sectors.
This updated publication ‘Good Practice Guide for Handling Soils in Mineral Workings’ succeeds Defra’s ‘Good Practice for Handling Soils’. Published in 2000, the guide was designed specifically to help the mineral industry and its contractors achieve a good standard of restoration when using various combinations of earth-moving machinery for soil stripping, storage and replacement.
An introduction to Soils Guidance, presented by Dr Neil Humphries, can viewed online here.
The full 162-page document contains the theory and knowledge of soils handling along with 15 detailed practical applications of best practice. It is an interactive pdf to easily navigate around the content:
Alternatively, individual sections of interest can be downloaded from the list below:
- Part One: Introduction to the Good Practice Guide for Handling Soils in Mineral Workings
- Sheet A: Soil Stripping with Excavators and Dump Trucks - Sequential Bed/Strip Practice
- Sheet B: Building Soil Storage Mounds with Excavators and Dump Trucks
- Sheet C: Excavation of Soils Storage Mounds with Excavators and Dump Trucks
- Sheet D: Soil Replacement with Excavators and Dump Trucks - Sequential Bed/Strip Practice
- Sheet E: Soil Stripping with Excavators and Dump Trucks - Windrow Practice
- Sheet F: Soil Stripping with Bulldozers and Dump Trucks - Windrow Practice
- Sheet G: Building Soil Storage Mounds with Bulldozers and Dump Trucks
- Sheet H: Soil Replacement with Bulldozers and Dump Trucks - Windrow Practice
- Sheet I: Soil Stripping with Bulldozers and Dump Trucks - Modified Layer by Layer Practice
- Sheet J: Soil Replacement with Bulldozers and Dump Trucks - Modified Layer by Layer Practice
- Sheet K: Hybrid Soil Replacement with Excavators, Bulldozers and Dump Trucks - Modified Layer by Layer Practice
- Sheet L: Release and Removal of Stones and Non-Soil Debris by Excavator and Stone Rake
- Sheet M: Release of Stones and Non-Soil Debris by Bulldozer Drawn Tines
- Sheet N: Soil Decompaction by Excavator Bucket
- Sheet O: Soil Decompaction by Bulldozer Drawn Tines
For more guidance and learning about the science of soils, visit the British Soil Science Society.
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