GRP for Food and Drink
GRP is used on food and drink sites for walkways, platforms and step-overs, because it does not rust in wash-down. At UIS, we design, fabricate and install GRP for food and drink sites, using our own site teams.
Why use GRP on a food and drink site?
GRP is used on food and drink sites because it does not rust in daily wash-down and has no paint coating to flake. GRP walkways, platforms and step-overs drain through the open mesh and grip in wet areas.
If you are adding walkways and step-overs to a line, or replacing steel ones that are rusting in the wash, they have to stay safe on a wet floor, stand up to your cleaning chemicals, and go in between production runs.
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Does not rust in wash-down
GRP walkways and step-overs have no paint coating, so daily cleaning does not strip them.
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Grips in wet areas
The open mesh drains, and we choose the gritted surface to suit how wet and greasy the area gets.
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Resin to suit your chemicals
We choose the GRP resin grade for the cleaning chemicals you use, so the walkways stand up to the wash as well as the water.
What we build for food and drink sites
What we build around lines and plant, the rules that apply, and what decides the surface and the resin.
- Step-overs
- GRP stairs over conveyors and lines, with handrails both sides
- Set by: What is being crossed and how often
- Walkways and platforms
- Open-mesh GRP grating with guardrails and toe boards
- Set by: Loads from your engineer, layout from production
- Stairs
- GRP stairs with anti-slip treads
- Set by: The height and how busy the stair is
- Surface
- Gritted open mesh, or solid top where spills must not fall through
- Set by: How wet and greasy the area gets
- Resin grade
- Chosen for the cleaning chemicals you use
- Set by: Your cleaning regime
- Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
- Floors and traffic routes kept free of slip and trip risks
- Source: legislation.gov.uk
- Dangerous Substances and Explosive Atmospheres Regulations 2002
- Where dust such as flour or sugar creates a classified hazardous zone, standard GRP can build up static charge. Your DSEAR assessment decides whether an anti-static GRP grade is needed.
- Source: legislation.gov.uk
- Work at Height Regulations 2005
- Guarded walkways and platforms where work at height cannot be avoided
- Source: legislation.gov.uk
- BS EN ISO 14122
- Platforms, walkways, stairs, guardrails and fixed ladders for access to plant
- Source: BSI (check the current edition)
This is general information, not food safety advice. Your food safety team sets the hygiene requirements.
We price food and drink work from a survey or your drawings. These are the main things that affect the price:
- the number of step-overs, platforms and stairs
- the surface and resin grade
- whether the support frame is new or existing
- production windows and shutdowns
- working hours
Our GRP product pages
Each of these has its own page with the full specification.
From survey to handover.
We survey, detail, fabricate and install the GRP ourselves, so one company is responsible for the whole job.
Survey and measure
We survey the lines and plant with your engineering team and agree the routes, crossings and production windows. On an existing structure we can 3D-scan it, so our drawings match what is on site.
Drawings and quotation
Our draughtsmen detail the GRP and any support steelwork to the loads your structural engineer gives us. We then send an itemised quotation that includes fabrication and installation. On major commercial packages the quotation comes back within 1 to 2 weeks.
Fabrication
We fabricate the support steelwork and cut the GRP panels and sections to size in our Rotherham workshop, so most of the cutting is done before delivery.
Installation
Our own site team installs the GRP under an SSSTS-qualified supervisor, to a method statement written for the job. We cut the GRP to size in our workshop, so there is little cutting on site. Where a panel does need trimming, we cut it with a diamond blade under dust extraction, away from live areas where possible, and no hot-works permit is needed.
Handover
At handover we give you the O&M pack, with the manufacturer's test data for the products we installed. The 12-month defect liability period runs from practical completion, in line with standard JCT terms, unless your contract sets different terms.
Why GRP suits wash-down areas
GRP walkways and step-overs do not rust and have no paint to flake, and the open mesh drains. GRP weighs roughly a fifth of the steel equivalent, so our team can carry it in between production runs.
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Platforms and step-overs.
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Where we use GRP on a food and drink site
These are the main places GRP goes around food and drink lines.
About UIS-
01
Step-overs across conveyors and lines
We build GRP step-overs and crossover stairs so your operators can cross conveyors and process lines without climbing on them, with handrails both sides.
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02
Walkways and platforms at tanks and plant
We build GRP walkways and platforms at mixers, tanks and packing machines, with guardrails and toe boards, on GRP or steel frames.
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03
Stairs to mezzanine plant
We build GRP stairs and handrails up to plant decks and mezzanines, with anti-slip treads for wet footwear.
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Installed by our own site teams
Our own site teams install every job. Each job has an SSSTS-qualified supervisor, every operative holds a CSCS card, and the teams are PASMA and IPAF trained. We write a method statement for each job and plan the work around your site, out of hours where your programme needs it.
"I've worked with UIS for several years on some high profile and very complex projects. Their attitude and work ethic are second to none - providing high quality services and products which are delivered safely and on time every time. Overall they are a pleasure to do business with and wouldn't hesitate recommending UIS for any steelwork or metalwork packages."
Questions we get asked.
GRP does not rust in daily wash-down and has no paint coating to flake over the line. The open mesh drains, and a gritted surface grips in wet areas.
That depends on the chemicals and the resin. Tell us what you clean with and we will choose the resin grade to suit. The manufacturer's chemical resistance data for that grade goes in your O&M pack.
Yes. We cut the GRP to size in our Rotherham workshop so the site work is short, plan the installation around your shutdowns, and do any trimming away from open product and under dust extraction, in line with your foreign-body controls. No hot-works permit is needed.
Open mesh drains, and it is the usual choice for walkways. Solid top is used where spills or small items must not fall through onto the line below. We specify the surface with you.
Your food safety team. We build the walkways and platforms to meet their requirements and to BS EN ISO 14122 and the Workplace Regulations 1992.