Coble Trench Safety Inc. (CTS), a Greensboro-based company specializing in the rental and sales of trench safety equipment, as well as OSHA-compliant training classes, and the rental and sales of traffic safety equipment has added hydraulic braces to its inventory across the southeast and mid-atlantic states.

“We are very excited about the potential in this new product” said Tom Coble, president of CTS. “We’ve developed a reputation of providing top quality products that help customers work safely and efficiently and we believe this product will complement that position well.”

Hydraulic braces are used in conjunction with sheeting, which may vary from steel sheet piles to steel plate to steel slide rail panels among other options. The system provides contractors with an open span excavation to complete projects. Similar systems are often used during tank installs to provide the free span excavation contractors need at shallow depths.

The system employed by CTS was specially manufactured for the company and builds upon previous designs currently utilized along the East Coast. One of the principal strengths of the system was the construction from DOMEX steel versus the conventional grade 50 steel that had been previously used.

“DOMEX steel is much stronger and lighter steel than what’s been used previously in comparable systems. The DOMEX steel translates to increased strength and decreased weight by 30 percent,” said Rudy Gauthier, one of the lead engineers CTS retains.

Coble Trench Safety has added significant staff to help support the new endeavor. Jon Frits, a rental industry veteran with 12 years’ experience in the sheeting and brace market will help to spearhead the company’s initiatives and provide technical support. Frits was an integral part of the evaluation of the new system and helping to identify improvements that would improve functionality on the job site.

“One of the biggest advantages with this system is the mechanical ram unit,” Frits said. “The mechanical ram unit goes with each leg of the brace and helps the system adapt to slight fluctuations on the job site where a contractor over digs the excavation. I’ve been on many a job site where that over digging results in the equipment delivered not being sufficient to complete the job, the job having to shut down while new equipment is delivered and the resulting re-engineering cost. This mechanical ram will help to address these minor site variations for contractors.”

“We’re very excited about this product. We recently completed a project along the coast and we were very pleased with the feedback provided by the customer,” said Coble. “We believe the hydraulic braces will help complete our trench safety product group as we seek to offer contractors a ’one stop shop’ for trench safety.”

In maintaining the company’s objective of building its existing product line, CTS plans to add a stronger and larger brace that will further the capabilities in first quarter 2012 among other strategic product additions on the horizon for the company.

For more information, visit www.cobletrenchsafety.com.

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