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Scaffolding Safety

10/28/2022

Ok, what do I need to know as a small business? Great question let’s take a closer look.
Sourcing a contractor

You will want to employ a scaffolding company who can prove that their scaffolders have the skills, knowledge, experience, and training, as such the company should have a recorded training process in place and be full members of NASC.
They must have EL and PL insurance at £10m and £5m, respectively.
Must prove CISRS/SSSTS/SMSTS competency of supervision and availability of supervisors for daily supervision of scaffolding works.
Scaffolders that are provided must be competent to do the work and have completed a CISRS scaffolders course and have an in date CISRS Blue scaffolders card.
The scaffolding company must also have access to a competent scaffold designer and the latest version of NASC technical guidance (TG:20).

Design or TG:20 Compliance Sheet
Simply put, a designed scaffold is one that is out of scope of TG:20 this may be for a bespoke purpose or where additional factors need to be considered such as cantilever, gantry, or buttress scaffolds. Whereas scaffolds built from compliance sheets should be fairly straightforward such as a small scaffold built for some minor façade works.
Scaffold Ties
In certain situations, there may be a requirement to tie the scaffold structure to the building, scaffold ties come in different types, key points to remember is that there should be a design showing the location of the ties in the structure and highlighting any structural ties, which should not be removed. In addition to this scaffold ties should be “pull tested” by a competent person with a pull test machine that is in date for calibration the results should then be compared to the design information to identify any discrepancies. Records of pull testing should be kept on site in the scaffolder’s records.
Scaffold Handovers/Inspection
Scaffolding handovers should be completed in accordance with NASC guidelines, once the scaffold is complete a competent scaffolder should inspect the scaffold for compliance with legislation and best practice guidance once inspected the scaffolder should then issue a handover certificate to the client. The scaffolding at this point will be put into use and the handover certificate to be considered as the first inspection in the 7-day statutory inspection regime.
The requirements for inspection of scaffolds are fairly straightforward and are conducted as follows:

Every 7 days, starting at handover.
If there has been any significant adaptions or alterations.
If there has been any event likely to affect the stability of the scaffold i.e., an extreme weather event, being hit by vehicles/plant etc.

Scaffolds should only be inspected by competent persons who have attended the Construction Industry Scaffolders Recognition Scheme course for scaffold inspection training either basic or advanced course. Where a competent person has completed the scaffold inspection course and also holds training qualification, they could be seen as competent to conduct in house training on scaffold awareness/appreciation, with attendees issued an in-house certificate of attendance and only able to use the training received while at that relevant company.
There may be other more specific scaffolding requirements identified during your project planning these details should be discussed with your scaffolding contractor and your health & safety representative. All information contained in this article is only for information and not meant to be used to form any part of your company procedures or safe system of works. here to edit.

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Benefits of having an External Health and Safety Advisor

10/5/2022

4 Comments

Every business owner wants what's best for their employees. A happy, healthy workforce is a productive one, after all. But knowing how to create and maintain a safe work environment can be a daunting task—particularly for small businesses who may not have the internal resources to devote to health and safety. That's where an external health and safety advisor comes in. Here are just five of the many benefits of hiring an experienced professional to help you ensure a safe workplace for everyone.

1. Peace of Mind
Running a business is stressful enough without having to worry about whether or not your workplace is compliant with all the latest health and safety regulations. An external health and safety advisor can take that burden off your shoulders, giving you the peace of mind that comes with knowing your business is meeting (or even exceeding) all the necessary standards.

2. Cost Savings
Accidents happen, but they don't always happen during regular business hours. If you have an in-house health and safety team, that means paying someone Overtime rates to deal with the incident—which can quickly add up. An external advisor, on the other hand, is usually contracted at a set rate regardless of when an accident occurs. This can end up saving your business a lot of money in the long run. You will also find that it is more cost-effective than hiring someone in house.

3. Compliance and Accreditation
Another benefit of hiring a retained health and safety advisor to to advise on legal compliance and provide practical solutions to keep your staff safe. By working with their tried and tested health and safety documents and management system, they can improve your documentation and ensure its compliant. No only that, but they can help with an accreditation or in winning work by demonstrating safety credentials and credibility.

4. Improved Morale
Nobody likes working in an unsafe environment. By hiring an external health and safety advisor to help you create a safe and compliant workplace, you'll not only be reducing the risk of accidents and injuries, you'll also be improving morale among your employees. And happy employees are productive employees!

5. Enhanced Reputation
In today's competitive marketplace, any edge your business can get is worth its weight in gold. By making health and safety a priority, you'll not only be creating a safer workplace for your employees—you'll also be enhancing your company's reputation as a responsible employer. This can give you a significant leg up on the competition when it comes time to wooing top talent.

As you can see, there are many good reasons to consider hiring an external health and safety advisor for your business. Not only will it give you peace of mind, but it could also save you money, improve morale among your employees, and even enhance your company's reputation. So why wait? Contact us today to learn more about how we can help keep your workplace safe!

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Scaffolding Safety

Benefits of having an External Health and Safety Advisor

Jon Martin

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