Have you consulted INRS recommendations R468 and R469?
Also commonly called inspection pits, service pits, maintenance pits, or even mechanical pits, the garage pit is the historic tool that we all know. We all have a more or less precise idea of what a pit is. For many, it's just a simple «hole» allowing access underneath a vehicle, whether it's a heavy goods vehicle, a utility vehicle, a car, construction equipment, or a bus, to carry out routine and quick maintenance operations, or for private use at our mechanic or technical inspection centre.
In times not so long past, it was just about sufficient to dig that «simple hole» with a concrete slab, four concrete walls adorned with lighting of varying quality (or even a simple work lamp...), and in the best-case scenario, a compressed air and electrical outlets system. These unsecured pits were for a long time a environment prone to workplace accidents, far too frequent, too numerous and often very serious. Talk about it around you, everyone will have at least an unfortunate story to tell you…
Today, fortunately, the construction of a workshop, and more specifically its pit, whether for draining, general servicing or maintenance, requires careful and rigorous design in order to offer a completely safe working space for its users and the various personnel circulating in the workshop.
Your pit must meet the requirements and recommendations of the Pension and Health Insurance Fund (CARSAT), of the Ministry of Labour and Transport and Directive 2006/42/EC.
They are capital for the proper design of your pit. You might say that many of these requirements are just simple recommendations? You're right, but all the same, they are truly essential, very useful and for some mandatory ones!
We are aware of many workshops that have had to revise their plans, or even rebuild their pits, before they can be used. Worse still, some of our clients have been refused permission to open their workshops because their pits did not comply with the technical design recommendations for safety and working comfort.’lack of a suitable pit closure (cover) system remaining the main reason for delay or refusal of opening.
So, how do you go about building your garage pit while adhering to all these design rules?
We will answer you in this next paragraph… Read more…
