
A major scaffolding collapse could ofย happened in the city streets of Manchester on Monday,ย jubilantย Manchester United fans celebratedย their 20th league title with a parade through the streets.
[dropcap]S[/dropcap]caffolding was erected onย Deansgate in the city byย NASC members ACE Scaffolding for construction work, The scaffolding structure also provided a great vantage point for the loyal united fan.ย ย Hundreds of fans managed to gain access to the scaffoldingย unawareย of the dangers of overloading the scaffolding levels and the injures it would cause.
Fortunatelyย disasterย wasย avertedย as the scaffold erection wasย luckilyย designed to bear heavy construction loads.
On reflection Itย doesn’tย bare thinking about of whatย could’veย happened, if that designย wasn’tย in place andย wasn’t expertly erected by the scaffolders at ACE Scaffolding.
The National Access And Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) posted a comment on the ScaffMag Facebook Pageย earlierย today:
The consensus is that a NASC scaffolding contractor ACE almost certainly had no control over access to the structure. If anything this was a principal contractor issue (TOLENT), although difficult to see how access could have beenย prevented once the site had been breached by the 100’s of fans.ย Fortunately it appears the structure was designed to bear this kind of load although the potential for catastrophe is clearly evident.
By Daniel Norton