Technical requirements for safety in metal scaffolding

5.1  General requirements

5.1.1  Materials

(a)  Sufficient material should be provided for and used in the construction of scaffolds.

(b)     Scaffolding  components  should  be  of  sound  material,  good construction, adequate strength and free from patent defects and should be properly maintained.

(c)     Boards and planks used in the construction of working platform should be straight-grained and free from large knots, dry rot, wormholes and other dangerous defects. Where necessary, they should be protected against splitting.

(d)    These  boards  and  planks  should  be  unpainted  so  that  any defects are readily visible.

(e)     Timber scaffold boards and their permitted tolerances should comply with BS 2482 or other equivalent national/international standards or provisions.

(f)      All   scaffolding   components   should   comply   with   BS   1139, BS EN 39, BS EN 74, BS EN 1004 and BS EN 12810 or other equivalent national/international standards or provisions. Hot dipped galvanized, painted or unprotected tube may be used in scaffolding structures. Unprotected tube should generally not be used in water and particularly not in marine structures. If used in such conditions, tubes should be thoroughly cleaned afterwards, carefully inspected, e.g. for signs of excessive corrosion and only returned to stock if suitable.

(g)  Tube ends should be free from distortion, corrosion, splits, laminations, surface flaws and undue rust. Used tubes should be free from cracks, splits and excessive corrosion (for example, corroded steel tube should be wire brushed for checking) and be straight to the eye. The ends of load-bearing tubes should be cut cleanly and squarely with the axis of  the tube and should not show excessive

wear. Sections of tube, which have been deformed or creased by abuse, should be cut out and discarded. Where tubes have become thin or split at the ends, these should be cut off and the cuts should be at right angles to the axis to the tube.

(h)     The   safe   working   loads   for   individual   couplers   and   fittings should comply with BS EN 12811 or other equivalent national/ international  standards  or  provisions.  Special  attention  should be paid to the use of joint pins because they cannot bear any tension. All couplers and fittings should be free from rust and distortion, worn threads and damaged bolts and should be maintained  in  lubricated  condition.  The  nuts  should  be  run  on their bolts to ascertain that they have a free-running fit. Spanners and  podgers  should  have  lengths  as  recommended  by  the coupler manufacturer.

(i)      Regarding  the  loads  on  working  platforms,  all  decking  units  of working platforms should have adequate strength to meet the recommendations for the appropriate duty of that specified in the following table:

Scaffold  boards  of  working  platforms  should  be  cleaned  on return from a construction site prior to stacking. They should be stacked flat and raised from the ground by cross battens. The end hoops or other means of end protection should be replaced or refixed as necessary. Boards with split ends should be cut down to  form  boards  of  reduced  length.  Boards  should  be  inspected after each job. Any boards showing signs of ill-treatment, abuse, decay or excessive warp should be discarded. Damaged or suspect sections should be cut off and destroyed. Care should be taken in the use of boards. Any over stressing (for example, that caused by impact loading) likely to cause unseen damage should be avoided. They should not be used as ramps or platforms over long spans, nor should they be put on the ground where vehicles or other loads can be put on them. Boards, which show evidence of vehicle tyre marks, should be destroyed. Where boards are treated for fire retardant purposes, care should be taken to select a process, which would minimize the loss of board strength.