The announcement of an order for 10 new Hitachi tracked excavators leads a multi-million pound programme of investment in plant and machinery at BCS Group.

Part of the Barhale group of companies, construction and safety equipment specialist BCS Group has purchased four ZX135US-7 14 tonne and six ZX225US-7 25 tonne machines to add to its rapidly growing excavator hire fleet.

The order follows hard on the heels of the arrival of 26 new Kubota diggers earlier this year which, together with a forthcoming replacement and expansion of the small and medium-sized commercial vehicle fleet, will bring the total recent investment in new plant and equipment to almost £6M over 12 months.

In line with Barhale’s commitment to adopting new technologies to maximise safety, each of the Hitachi machines will be fitted with the human form recognition cameras and a Digital Thumbs Up system pioneered by artificial intelligence, autonomous, robotic and environmental solutions business Safety Shield Global.

Using artificial intelligence, the human form recognition system is able to identify when a when a person has stepped into an unsafe area around a machine, providing an audible alert to the person in the zone and also to the driver. The system is able to provide data on any incidents and will help make sure best practice is followed at all times.

Steve Day, Head of Hire at BCS Group has led the investment programme which he believes will help put the company’s equipment at the technological forefront of what is available to hire in the UK.

“We have a double priority at BCS Group: to ensure that we are making available to hirers the most up-to-date and well-equipped machines and to make sure that their spec also reflects the latest developments to ensure that sites and operators are kept as safe as possible,” he said.

“The latest fleet additions from Hitachi certainly meet those expectations. In addition to the Human Form Recognition, the machines have been fitted with Digital Thumbs Up, and Height and Slew Restriction.

“Customers have welcomed the news of their arrival and we are confident that they will prove popular on site.”