Technical requirements for safety in metal scaffolding – Support for metal scaffold

5.1.2  Support for metal scaffold

(a)    The  stability  of  the  ground  or  supporting  structure  should  be

justified by recognized engineering principles.

(b)  The ground or supporting structure for a scaffold should be adequate to carry and dispose the load imposed both locally at each standard and, in general, to carry the design loads of the scaffold without undue settlement.

(c)     The ground on which a scaffold is constructed should be solid, levelled and rammed to give a hard surface, and should be strong enough to keep the scaffold upright. Soil should be compacted or consolidated and as far as practicable, water be drained off.

(d)    Hard surface: on surfaces such as steel and concrete where there is adequate hardness and thickness to prevent the scaffolding tubes from penetrating into the surface, the standards can be placed directly on the surface but preferably to be placed on a base plate.

(e)  Pavements and other surfaces of intermediate hardness: on surfaces such as hard asphalt, timber and flooring, where there is a possibility of the standards deforming the surface, base plates or metal packing plates should be used at the bottom of the standards.

(f)      Other surfaces: on soil, ash, hoggin, gravel, soft asphalt and any type of flooring or paving which would be penetrated by a standard with a base plate beneath it or if there is doubt about the surface, there should be a further spreading of the load by a sole plate of timber or other suitable material.

(g)     The sole plate area beneath one standard should be at least 0.1m2 with the least dimension of 219mm, and if the sole plate is of timber, it should be not less than 35mm thick. Where the ground is soft or has been disturbed, the sole plate area should be not less than 0.17m2 when individual sole plates are used.

(h)     The  ground  or  soil  beneath  the  sole  plate  should  be  well compacted and free from irregularities, which would make the sole plate unstable or poorly bedded.

(i)     On sloping supports, the base of the scaffold should be effectively prevented from sliding. An appropriately shaped wedge should be inserted to the void between each standard’s base plate and the sloping support to ensure tightness and verticality. To resist lateral loads, the base of the scaffold should further be adequately anchored to the sloping support.

(j)      The supports for a scaffold should be maintained in an adequate condition  as  described  in  this  section  during  the  life  of  the scaffold.