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Whats the steepest slope for a general ride on mower

Posted by Anthea Harrison on October 17, 2012 at 3:58pm in Landscaping

Hi, i am doing some detailing for a landscape design and need to replace some retaining walls with sloped grass instead, but ideally it needs to be mown with a sit on mower.  What would be a reasonable gradient? any help appreciated

thanks   

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  • PRO
    Gary RK October 17, 2012 at 4:32pm
    For safe operation slopes cut with 'normal' landscape maintenance mowers should ideally be no more than 10-15 degrees.

    A risks assessment should be completed by a employer and/or employee

    Any slopes over 20 degrees requires specialist slope mowing machinery.

    Metal bladed hover mowers dangled on lengths of rope are a no-no now from HSE.

    These are employer based rules, what a homeowner does in there own garden is outside these rules, but serve as a realistic guide should a homeowner have an accident and try to claim in their insurance.

    Search the forum and you will find a really good HSE presentation on this very subject.

    Hope that helps....?
  • Dan Frazer Gardening October 17, 2012 at 4:41pm

    I was going to come in with 15 degrees but Gary got there. Not only is it about the danger of toppling, but smooth turf tyres don't grip enough to mow up slopes if it's a bit damp.

  • PRO
    Gary RK October 17, 2012 at 5:17pm

    Here's an excellent presentation on the subject and has been used with my guys:


    mmhhh...... it wont load on here as it 10mb in size, but go here to view it:

    http://www.hse.gov.uk/aboutus/meetings/iacs/aiac/apg/280710/3-3-1-m...

  • PRO
    Brian www.mibservices.co.uk October 17, 2012 at 6:21pm
    Excellent link Gary, going to print copies of for each of my squad, thanks
  • Anthea Harrison October 18, 2012 at 7:24am

    Thank you very much for that info, do you know off the top of your head what 15 degrees equates to in terms of 1 in 50, 1 in 100 etc  

  • Anthea Harrison October 18, 2012 at 8:22am

    I've worked it out to be about 1 in 3 is that right?

  • Dan Frazer Gardening October 18, 2012 at 10:40am

    1 in 3 is about 18 degrees, too steep. Actually 15 degrees looks a bit too steep anyway. It is roughly 1:4. 10 degrees is about 1:6 which seems about the most for ride on mowers to me.

  • PRO
    Brian www.mibservices.co.uk October 18, 2012 at 11:16am
    Depends on size of rideon but to play safe I would agree with Dan on 10% -12%. My JD has a warning sticker of 11% but I know that my Ransomes is capable of just a little more.
  • James Dixon October 19, 2012 at 10:09am

    Bank cutting also comes under the working at height regulations because you can fall down/ off them.

    I think we will see al lot more remote control bank mowers in the future.

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