About Us

We are an established company who specialise in Winter Ground Maintenance. We have been gritting for over 15 years from West Sussex and our area has now grown to coverage across London, Essex, Surrey, East Sussex, Cheshire and The Midlands with other new areas of the UK this winter season.

Throughout the winter season EFP Gritting Ltd are a 24 hour, 7 day a week operation. We offer tailor made gritting programmes, using specialist spreading equipment designed for use on both large and small premises. At EFP Gritting Ltd we are able to operate outside office hours, therefore, minimising any disruption to the working day.

  • Comprehensive fleet of gritting vehicles and equipment catering for sites large & small
  • Over £1 million of snow clearing equipment
  • £10 million public liability Insurance
  • Safecontractor accredited
UK Road Gritters

Gritting Services

  • Regional ‘strength’ geared to provide a comprehensive service focused on regional areas rather than claiming ambitious ‘national coverage’
  • Diverse range of gritting equipment ranging from push along hand spreaders, 4×4 trailed spreaders, 7.5t gritting lorries and an 18 tonne lorry.
  • Guaranteed supply/stocks of de-icing salt (BS 3247). This is clean pure white salt which minimises the need for clean up of residue after gritting.
  • Variety of corrosion & environment sensitive salt alternatives available, having experience in spreading at least 4 other products
  • Vehicles fitted with pre-wetting equipment enabling us to reduce the environmental impact of gritting your site / premises
  • Customer accountability with all lorries tracked and monitored. Site specific visit data available through GPS Tracking System
  • State of the art weather information systems and intelligence through Meteo Group (as used by local authorities/councils/highways depts.)
Gritting

Snow Clearance

  • Snow clearance is a critical and often overlooked part of any winter maintenance service.
  • Over £1 million of snow clearing equipment deployed once ploughing is required, illustrating our commitment to snow clearance
  • Extensive range of snow clearing equipment ranging from Snow Shovels & Hand Ploughs through to Full Size Tractor Mounted Ploughs
  • Dedicated Path Clearance Crews dealing with hand clearance on sites
  • Entire operation ready to clear/plough snow 24 hours a day
EFP Gritting Airside

Our Practices

How do we decide when to grit?

We monitor the weather conditions & forecasts using a variety of information sources. A decision to commence operation is based on the forecast and predicted temperatures for a given area, especially road surface temperatures, as they can be up to 5 -7 degrees lower than air temperature!

When do we start gritting?

Salt is ideally spread before roads become icy or snow starts to fall. This is known as precautionary salting. After a sub zero temperature has been forecast we spread the salt ideally in advance of the temperature fall and freezing conditions.
Prevention of ice formation is far better practice than treating already formed ice/fallen snow.

How much salt do we use?

The recommended guidelines are to spread approximately 10-15gms/m2 for precautionary salting and 20-40gms/m2 during ice and snow conditions. Although of course this may differ, as we evaluate each visit on a needs basis.

Gritting Company

How does the salt work?

The Salt works by lowering the freezing point of moisture on the surface. Salt can stop ice forming and cause existing ice or snow to melt. However, salt doesn’t work instantly; it needs to be ground down by pedestrian/vehicular traffic in order for it to be activated. Please note this process will take far longer on pedestrian areas than on roads, which is why we endeavour to help the process by using specialist hand tools & spreaders. When the surfaces are dry there may be a white appearance caused by the salt, this will soon disappear. Any residual salt will itself attract moisture and can give the surface a damp appearance, this again is perfectly normal and the salt should prevent the moisture from freezing.

After gritting will our surfaces be 100% safe?

There is no such thing as an absolutely safe surface, although we will do our absolute best to minimize the risk!

The Law

As you may be aware, any occupier of a commercial property is required under the management of health & safety at work regulations 1999 and (regulation 12) Workplace Health, Safety and Welfare Regulations to assess risks and take measures to protect employees and customers from the hazard that icy conditions present. Failing to do so may result in criminal prosecution and exposure to litigation by any injured party slipping on your icy grounds.

“Slip and trip accidents increase during the Winter season as the cold weather spells cause ice and snow to build up on paths. There are effective actions that you can take to reduce the risk of a slip or trip. Regardless of the size of your site, always ensure that regularly used walkways are promptly tackled.” (Source Health & Safety Executive)

Gritters Sussex

A 2005 study by the HSE found 14% of slips/trips occurred in snow/ice conditions and were mainly attributed to inadequate maintenance. Make sure your organisation doesn’t become part of the statistics and contact EFP Gritting today !
“Employers have to ensure their employees and anyone else who could be affected by their work (such as visitors, members of the public, patients etc.), are kept safe from harm and that their health is not affected. This means slip and trips risks must be controlled to ensure people do not slip, trip and fall. ” (Source Health & Safety Executive)

For more information please visit: www.hse.gov.uk/slips

Contact Us






The Office

Address: Edmunds Farm Mill Lane, Balcombe, West Sussex RH17 6QU

Head Office: 08000 58 88 55 / 01444 651 651

Birmingham / Midlands Region: 0121 4000 651 / 07970 190 780

North West: 01606 590 109 / 07980 685 428

Snow clearance