Scaffolding collapse narrowly misses school children

Daniel Norton
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Scaffolding collapse narrowly misses school children

School children and staff narrowly miss serious injury after scaffolding collapses onto a school in Wales.

An investigation by Health and Safety and Vale of Glamorgan Council officials is underway after scaffolding collapsed on to the main entrance of Albert Primary School in Penarth, Wales on Friday 5th May.

Reports suggest the scaffolding was erected on a neighbouring property and came down in high-winds. Amazingly no children or staff at the school were injured.

One parent said “My wife and kids had walked through the gate moments before the scaffolding came crashing down. A very close call”.

Image credit: Penarth News

Albert School issued a statement to parents saying “Please be made aware that the Top Gate of the school is not accessible today due to a neighbouring property’s scaffold falling across into the school premises.

Please be assured no one was injured in anyway. Due to restorative works taking place there will be considerable congestion at the end of the day.”

Planet Platforms Flying high for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance

Grahame Anderson
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Planet Platforms Flying high for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance

Planet Platforms has pledged to keep their sponsorship of the life saving YORKSHIRE Air Ambulance (YAA) going beyond the company’s 40th anniversary.

As one of the world’s leading manufacturers of working at height equipment the Wakefield headquartered business, has been proud of their relationship with the YAA. A key maintenance provider for the two helicopter operation, they also see their role as giving something back to the community. With this in mind, the team will be organizing a series of fund raising activities, as well ensuring YAA’s maintenance costs for another 12 months. MD Peter Pemberton said: “Yorkshire Air Ambulance ethos of protecting those in danger resonated with our founding principals. Planet Platforms has worked with Air, Sea and Rescue and the YAA for many years so it seemed logical to support them in our anniversary year. YAA is an independent charity operating two helicopters out of Nostell Priory in Wakefield and North Yorkshire. Being on our doorstep they were an obvious choice for our anniversary year charity. It costs £4.4m each year to keep both aircraft flying and provide the valuable service the public relies on. We have already planned a series of fundraisers throughout the year in addition to the sponsorship and would urge everyone to support them.” As a rapid response air emergency service the Charity serves a population of approximately five million people across four million acres. Planet Platforms makes bespoke working at height solutions and off the shelf scaffolding for major aviation, defence, rail, offshore and construction companies around the world. It was keen to mark its celebration by reflecting its core values.

HSE Inspector Numbers Cut By A Quarter

Grahame Anderson
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HSE Inspector Numbers Cut By A Quarter

Numbers of Front-line health and safety inspectors have been cut by 25 per cent in six years according to figures obtained by the Unite union.

In 2010 the total of inspectors stood at 1,311, but by the end of 2016 this had fallen to just 980. These shocking statistics emerged from a Freedom of Information request in the run up to International Workers’ Memorial Day. This news comes amid revelations acquired from the same source revealing it takes three years four months on average, for any sentence to be handed down after a workplace fatality. Clearly the findings are worrying for industry professionals. “HSE inspectors play a vital role in keeping workers safe,” said Unite acting general secretary Gail Cartmail. “Rogue bosses who are prepared to break safety laws, are only kept in check by the fear of being caught and punished. Fewer inspectors mean more bosses willing to risk workers’ lives to boost profits. In these circumstances it is more important than ever that union safety reps are given the training, support and time to conduct their duties and keep their fellow workers safe.” The Health and Safety Executive is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare. It also carries out vital research into occupational risks in Great Britain. As part of its work HSE investigates industrial accidents, small and large, including major incidents. Both Unite and workers in the construction industry will be watching the situation closely in the hope things will improve going forward in terms of growing health and safety inspector numbers going forward.

Contractor Fined More Than £200,000 Over Tragic Death of Scaffolder

Grahame Anderson
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Contractor Fined More Than £200,000 Over Tragic Death of Scaffolder

Steel Fabricator CMF Ltd has been ordered to pay more than £200,000 following the death of a scaffolder crushed by a falling concrete block in London four years ago.

cmf ltd
Richard Laco was crushed to death. He had taken work as a scaffolder after losing his futures trading job in the financial crash
Former City worker Richard Laco, 31, from Hendon lost his life when a stair landing he was hoisting plummeted 20 feet, dragging him into its path. The former futures trader at Amplify Trading fluent in four languages and with a degree in banking, finance and economics, had been working on the £600 million Francis Crick Institute medical research centre in King’s Cross. An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive deemed there was no safe system of work in place for the installation of the staircases on the site, which opened last year. The agency also found the Feltham based contractor had failed to appropriately supervise this work activity. At the inquest in 2015 it was cited the 1.2 tonne stair landing had come loose after slipping from a rope. The momentum and angle of the fall meant Mr Laco could not get out of the way in time. The result of the inquest led to a close review on how huge staircase landing slabs were hoisted into place.  CMF Ltd was later fined £185,000 and ordered to pay £20,606 costs at Southwark crown court. The company, a sub-contractor of Laing O’Rourke,  pleaded guilty to breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974. HSE Inspector Stephen Farthing commented: “This incident could have been prevented if the company had properly planned the lifting process before work had begun. Duty holders have the responsibility of ensuring that safe and suitable lifting plans are in place, before carrying out any work involved heavy loads.” This tragic accident came just a short time after Mr Laco had successfully switched careers from city trader to scaffolder following the financial crash.

GKR Scaffolding in partnership with BT Motorsport

Scaffmag Newsdesk
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GKR Scaffolding in partnership with BT Motorsport

Bobby Thompson aims to reach new highs in 2017 in the Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup championship with support from his headline sponsor GKR Scaffolding Limited.

As the hotly contested Milltek Sport Volkswagen Racing Cup rolls towards the Rockingham Motor Speedway in Corby, Bobby Thompson is delighted to announce that GKR Scaffolding based in London and Kent, will be Title Corporate Sponsor of the #19 Team Hard VW Golf for the rest of the 2017 Bobby’s familiar black and orange Golf GTI R Cup race car will now sport the GKR Scaffolding livery and logo, as seen on their iconic fleet of trucks. It also displays the ‘Better Future’ branding – a programme that GKR will be launching to focus on helping the construction industry, GKR employees and local communities build a better future. GKR Scaffolding, BT Motosport Bobby commented: “I am really pleased to add GKR Scaffolding to our team for 2017. My aim for the season is to continually promote the company whilst driving to the best of my ability in the hope of winning this season’s championship. Ultimately, I wish to create a ‘better future’ for both myself and GKR. These guys have given me a fantastic platform to work from and can only see things reaching new heights in the future.” GKR Scaffolding work on the most iconic construction projects in London and the South East, and have built a reputation for investing in the future of the industry. Their ability to work on London’s most complex projects such as The Shard, The Royal Albert Hall and Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium has made them leaders in safety and innovation. This year they won Construction News Access & Scaffolding Specialist of the Year and the Training Excellence Award 2017. GKR Scaffolding, BT Motosport Neil Rowswell added: “As a business we know what it takes to go from being a challenger to the leader in our market. Our Better Future programme has enabled us to support talent such as Bobby to help him achieve this too. This year, GKR is focusing on raising the profile of construction amongst young people, whilst investing in our employees and the communities we are part of in the South East. We are very proud to be working with Bobby this season and having him represent our brand.”

TRAD Group supports Workers Memorial Day

Scaffmag Newsdesk
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TRAD Group supports Workers Memorial Day
Friday 28th April is Workers Memorial Day it’s an international day to support and remember the lives of those lost, injured, disabled or made unwell by their work; it is a day when we can take a minute in silence and pause to reflect. Workers’ Memorial Day is an opportunity to highlight the preventable nature of most workplace incidents and ill health and to promote campaigns and union organisations in the fight for improvements in workplace safety. The slogan for the day is Remember The Dead – Fight For The Living.  Although 28th April is used as the focal point for remembrance and a day of international solidarity, campaigning and other related activities continue throughout the year right around the world. The TRAD Group will be supporting by taking part in a minute’s silence on Friday 28th April. All their office staff will wear purple ribbons, and scaffolders/yard staff will be wearing hi vis vests and helmets that display the purple ribbon and Workers’ Memorial Day logo. A spokesperson for the TRAD Group said: “Our group of companies continuously strive to improve Health and Safety not just for ourselves but for the scaffolding industry as a whole. It is our company ethos to make sure that all our people, our clients and our supply chain are involved in all aspects of Health and Safety, so they can contribute towards discussions, inform us of potential dangers and issues, and be more proactive in driving the changes to make us a safer organisation. We involve our workforce in several ways to assist in significantly ensuring safe working practices and helping to ensure all go home safely to their families at the end of the day.” The TRAD Group will be planning and organising other events throughout the course of the Year; prior to next years’ memorial.

Safety & Access Offer Fully Funded Scaffolder Training To Our Readers

Scaffmag Newsdesk
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Safety & Access Offer Fully Funded Scaffolder Training To Our Readers
LIMITED OFFER – FULLY FUNDED SCAFFOLDER TRAINING AVAILABLE Last three remaining places for FULLY funded learning at Nottingham. Please be aware that Safety & Access have three remaining places to be filled prior to the end of April and are offering ScaffMag readers the opportunity to take advantage of this. Learners will attend for 11 weeks over an 18 month period and will complete training and assessment to result in the award ultimately of their CISRS Scaffolders Card. Employers that pay into the CITB levy are entitled to additional and significant payments to further support this training and for employers that employ less than 50 people additional grants of around £1500.00 are available. Candidates must be aged between 16 and 24 and must be keen and committed to a career in the scaffolding industry. For more details on this very limited offer please contact Hayley Williams – Training Manager at [email protected] or call our Nottingham Office on 0115 979 4523 and ask for Hayley. www.safetyaccess.co.uk

Cape Awarded Scaffold Contract for New Fadhill Facility

Scaffmag Newsdesk
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Cape Awarded Scaffold Contract for New Fadhill Facility
Cape’s Kingdom of Saudi Arabia subsidiary, Cape R B Hilton, has been awarded a contract by Nasser S Al Hajri (NSH) to provide 120,000 m2 of suspended scaffold on the Sulphur Recovery Unit project at Saudi Aramco’s Fadhili Gas Plant. The Saudi Aramco Fadhili Gas Program in the Eastern Province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is planned to have a total processing capacity of 2.5 billion standard cubic feet per day and comprises onshore Khursaniyah upstream facilities, the Fadhili downstream pipelines, a residential camp and industrial support facilities. The new Fadhili Gas Plant will be built approximately 30 kilometres southwest of the existing Khursaniyah Gas Plant. Established in 1978, NSH is the leading industrial contractor within KSA having in excess of 100,000 employees operating globally in its group. Paul Cockerill, Managing Director KSA & Bahrain commented:
“This scaffold contract award is a significant strategic win for Cape R B Hilton, it’s an important stepping stone into the Fadhili Gas Plant Project with one of our major clients with whom we have had a long and successful relationship. We are committed to delivering a safe and reliable service and will look to secure additional work packages at this prestigious project.”

NASC 2017 Safety Report Reveals Another Fatality Free Year

Grahame Anderson
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NASC 2017 Safety Report Reveals Another Fatality Free Year

The National Access & Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) has reported another fatality-free year in its highly regarded 2017 Safety Report.

NASC Safety Report 2017The document analyses accident and injury statistics for its full contract members in the previous 12 months. Representing more than 17,000 UK scaffolding operatives, constituting a significant percentage of the total British scaffolding workforce, its findings are well respected. The good news is, despite a 14 per cent rise in the number of NASC member operatives over the period, the incident rate has been halved to what it was five years ago. The report also reveals the lowest incidence and frequency rates recorded by NASC full contracting member companies, showing a 16 per cent decrease in the frequency of manual handling injuries. Additionally, no members of the public were injured around NASC member scaffolds. NASC full contracting members are required to submit a completed annual accident return as a requirement of membership, and the NASC Safety Report is based on data generated by this exercise. The 24-page report features, Injuries and fatalities to operatives, members of the public and third parties, accident causes and types, a detailed analysis of accidents, comparison of the HSE/NASC accident statistics and what the NASC does to support safe scaffolding practice. NASC President, Alan Lilley said:
“Once again, the NASC Annual Safety Report has highlighted how successful our members are at reducing accidents through compliance with industry safety standards and adherence to NASC guidance. No doubt, the release of SG4:15 ‘Preventing Falls in Scaffolding Operations’ was a major factor in achieving this reduction in accidents. And the fact that there’s been a marked reduction in the number of accidents – despite a record-level of NASC membership, shows what we do for our members in producing quality safety and technical guidance.”
The news isn’t all good however, as slips, trips and falls were the major cause of accident and injury – representing a third of all reported injuries, for the 12th year running. NASC Managing Director, Robin James added:
“The Annual Safety Report clearly highlights what we are doing to drive up safety standards in access and scaffolding, with reliable data to back it up. NASC members are strictly audited to maintain the highest possible standards, helping to keep their contracted operatives safe on construction sites right across the UK.”
The NASC 2017 Safety Report will be officially launched at the ‘Health & Safety Scotland’ Event industry trade show held at Glasgow SEC, May 3-4. The report is also being circulated with Construction News Work at Height issue on June 9th and Construction National Spring issues, with a digital reader/PDF version available here.

Layher Scaffolding System Driving Major Scottish Development

Grahame Anderson
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Layher Scaffolding System Driving Major Scottish Development

The All-round Lightweight scaffolding system from modular specialist Layher will have a major role to play in Aberdeen’s £745Million transport infrastructure development.

The scheme, Linking Stonehaven in the south to Tipperty in the north, will include four sections, 75 principal structures including two river crossings, a railway bridge and 70 culverts. The Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route will significantly improve travel in and around the north east of Scotland. The scaffolding system will be part of the general construction process. “A project of this size clearly has key scheduling objectives that need to be met,” says Sean Pike, MD of Layher UK, whose involvement was orchestrated by the company’s Livingston facility. “The speed and adaptability of the scaffold installations are critical, particularly as each bridge structure is designed to meet individual functional and location considerations.” The decision by AWPR Construction Joint Venture, reflects key characteristics of the All-round system design. When complete, the project will help to reduce congestion, cut journey times, improve safety and lower pollution in Aberdeen City Centre. It will also enable local authorities to develop public transport solutions. Sean added: “As with all Layher scaffold and weather protection systems, All-round Lightweight benefits from ease of handling and wide bay configuration as well as minimum component requirements resulting from the built-in ‘rosette’ connection system. This also produces clear gains in terms of transportation to, and storage at, site while the absence of separate fittings represents not only an obvious health and safety advantage, but also minimises the risk of materials being accidentally left at a site after removal.   In a rural location – as is generally the case here over much of the alignment – this is of particular significance. Importantly, the Layher All-round system also requires minimal cross-bracing, enabling clear walkways to be utilised, aiding the movement of both workforce and materials around each structure.   Additionally, the versatility and loading capability of the modular system meets key considerations at the Aberdeen site head on, with consequent gains in terms of safety and project scheduling.” A total of four fully boarded scaffold lifts have been installed, to allow for construction of the bridge support substructure, with Layher stair-towers also used at key points optimising speed of access. The deployment of advanced construction techniques impacts directly on both scheduling and budgetary control. The use of Layher’s All-round Lightweight scaffolding system is a clear demonstration of these objectives in operation.   Kenneth Redman, Technical Manager, Scotland and Ireland at Layher’s office in Scotland, said the company’s work on the project included several significant bridge ‘focus point crossings’. “One particular site has called for two separate, yet complementary, bridges to be installed almost at a right angle to each other,” he explains. “While one is designed to raise the new dual carriageway over an existing road below, the other is to carry the new road over major utility services.   The speed of erection and adaptability of All-round Lightweight has been clearly demonstrated here and has avoided possible design complications, additional manpower and potential delays that could have arisen from the use of a tube and fitting alternative.” Critically, the scaffold installation must be able to keep pace with the work as it progresses.
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