When you are dealing with any type of scaffolds, it is important that you are familiar with the equipment and take extra steps to ensure the safety of yourself, your workers and other nearby pedestrians. If your building project does call for working at a height and scaffolds, be sure to familiarise yourself with some basic safety tips.

Working at heights can be dangerous without the appropriate experience or safety precautions. However if these measures are in place and monitored properly, working with scaffolds can be as easy and safe as any other elevated construction technique.

This short but sweet article aims to provide readers with an easy to implement safety plan along with some effective tips to help you the next time you choose to use scaffolds.

 

Have the right training

Before you use any type of equipment you should have the appropriate training to use it. Scaffolding equipment is no different especially when safety regulations call that you and your workers have undergone the proper training.

The training includes many different factors including the proper way to get on and off the structure, how to avoid falls while operating on the structure, what to do in emergency situations and how to properly erect it as well.

 

Conduct regular safety checks

It is vital that when you are using scaffolds that you are carrying out regular safety checks especially before using the structure. The bass should be secured and level to the building that you are working on. Every guard and hand rail should also be installed properly and secured to ensure that they don’t fall if knocked.

Carrying out safety checks throughout the day will also ensure that no one is harmed during the project. These checks become increasingly important during times where there are harsh weather conditions such as strong winds or rain that could alter the layout of the structure in any way (height, level etc).

 

Understand and respect the load capacity

The load capacity on these types of structures is specifically calculated for a certain max weight limit. When being designed, engineers calculate what the max weight limit can be as a fundamental and not something that should simply be ignored. If the weight limit were to be exceeded the entire structure could fail and end up seriously hurting anyone who is caught nearby.

scaffolds

Be sure not to overload on workers either as there is only a certain amount of moving space for the intended people. Again exceeding this limit could lead to injury and the failure of the structure.

 

Be organised

Organisation on scaffolds is crucial to ensure that things run smoothly. As we stated earlier, there isn’t a lot of room to move around up there so ensuring that tools and other equipment is strapped down or secured ensures that no one gets hurt. It is recommended that workers have tool belts while working on these structures to make it easier to store and access tools when you are up there.

To summarise, scaffolds can be a very effective technique to help with construction but comes with its own set of risks. However, if you and your crew are prepared and capable to follow the safety tips you won’t have any problems when operating on the structure.

Safety on any construction project is of paramount importance simply because of how many accidents happen on a yearly basis. Many of these accidents result in permanent injury or even death in some cases and site managers need to do everything possible to ensure the safety of their workers and that everyone follows safety guidelines.