For those where work at height issues are relevant to their business, they need to be aware of the Work at Height Regulations.

Scaffolding Technical guidance TG 20:13

Specification and maintenance, provided by an appropriate programme of independent scaffold inspection, can protect scaffolding contractors from accidents. Legislation requires that scaffolds must be designed, erected and then inspected before first use, with weekly inspections thereafter by a “competent person.” Scaffolders should be suitably trained and will work on producing a safe structure, meaning the scaffolder who erected the scaffold is deemed to be “competent” to inspect his own scaffold. However, the question then arises of whether a conflict of interest arises and if a scaffolder will critique their own work fully? Such a question only usually is asked following an accident, and work at height accidents can have fatal consequences.

In such an event, the HSE will ask how you know a scaffold was safe. They will examine inspection records which will determine who was responsible for such inspection and explore their training and experience to establish their competency. If an employee of the scaffolder themselves or even principal contractor made the inspections, however properly, then questions may well be asked.

It is therefore always recommended that such inspections are not carried out by the scaffolding company contracted to erect the scaffold or principal contractor and are done so independently and in accordance with the standard set out by TG 20:13, a technical guidance produced by the National Access and Scaffold Confederation in response to the production of British Standard BS EN 12811.

Our scaffold inspectors are CISRS qualified and attend site to not only carry out the inspections and produce a comprehensive but concise report, which complies with Schedule 7 of the Work at Height Regulations 2005, but also work with the scaffolders on site to assist in overcoming obstacles which may be preventing progress, thus increasing time and cost efficiencies for the business.