A Merseyside scaffolding firm has been fined £300,000 after a worker died at its yard in 2012.
Kings Scaffolding in Liverpool pleaded guilty to corporate manslaughter after failing to heed health and safety warnings or take reasonable steps to ensure the safety of employees tasked to carry out work on the roof of the shed at the firm’s yard.
Back in September 2012 Kings Scaffolding employee Adrian Smith, 44, had just returned to work on light duties after having a heart attack just days before he died at the firm’s yard in Netherley.
While carrying out roof repairs on the company’s storage shed, Adrian fell through a perspex skylight falling more than four meters onto the concrete floor below.
He suffered multiple fractures to his skull, a brain injury and fractures to his wrist.
Police and paramedics were called to the scene but Mr Smith died later that day in hospital.
Kings Scaffolding yard in Holt Lane, Wavertree.
Video captures the scene as a 30ft mobile scaffolding tower came crashing down in a high street, narrowly missing cars.
Last Sunday shop owners and traders in a Winchester High Street dashed to move their cars from the path of a collapsing aluminium mobile tower scaffold.
Three dosey contractors who had been clearing out gutters on a shop reportedly proceeded to move the 30ft tower from one side to the other without dismantling it.
Luckily nobody was hurt in the incident.
A spokesperson for the industry trade body for the safe use of mobile access (PASMA) said:
“Given the many fundamental errors in the construction, use and movement of the tower evident in this video, it was almost inevitable that it would overturn. To assemble a narrow width tower to that height without stabilisers or tying in is quite simply dicing with death. To then even countenance moving it, is foolhardy beyond belief. We are relieved that there were no injuries or fatalities as a result of this incident. It could so easily have been the case. It is very frustrating that it could so easily have been avoided – by assembling the tower following the instruction manual, installing stabilisers, and reducing the height of the tower to 2m (4m if stabilisers are fitted) before attempting to move it. Mobile access towers are a very safe, efficient and convenient method of working at height but like anything else in the hands of inexperienced or untrained people, they have the potential to be lethal. That’s why PASMA shouts from the rooftops that mobile access towers must be used only by competent people, following the manufacturers’ instruction manual and the PASMA Code of Practice.PASMA training members deliver its Towers for Users training course through a network of over 470 training centres to equip tower users with the necessary skills and knowledge to avoid just such incidents.”
Nearly 40% of the world’s electricity is generated by coal-fired power plants. With over 2,300 of these power plants worldwide, the impact of maintenance on these plants is great. This article provides a primer on the special needs of scaffolding for coal-fired power plant maintenance.
ELECTRICITY FROM COAL
Coal is used as fuel to produce superheated steam. This steam is run through turbines to produce electricity. Under normal operations, residue from coal impurities builds up within the interior surfaces, reducing the efficiency of the power plant. In order to correct this, the typical power plant often goes offline in order to be cleaned and maintained. Scaffolding needs to be built to access just about every internal surface.
When a power plant goes offline it stops producing electricity and is a huge financial burden to the power company. To give you an idea of the cost of a power plant shutting down, consider that an average coal fired power plant can produce 600 megawatts per hour, or 600,000 kilowatt-hours. At £0.11 per kwh, this equates to a £66,000 loss in revenue per hour, or about £1.6 million per day.
The complexity of building scaffolding to service a power plant presents unique challenges to a scaffolding company. Even an average-sized boiler requires a massive amount of scaffolding and, to make matters worse, power plants are often located at remote locations that can take days to ship materials to. If a project is delayed for 8 hours because of a few missing parts, the owner is at risk of losing £528,000. A “close enough” bill of materials can put you out of business.
THE SCAFFOLDING STRUCTURE
By far the largest scaffold that needs to be built within a power plant is within the structure called the boiler. The boiler is where coal is ignited to produce superheated steam, which is in turn pushed out to the turbines to produce the electricity. Although boilers can be small, most of the boilers in power-generation are very large, requiring hundreds of people in varying shifts to build the scaffolding.
Boilers consists of four primary areas and shapes that every scaffolder needs to be aware of: the base, the main birdcage structure, the bullnose, and the superheater. Following will illustrate each area of the boiler scaffolding with automatically-generated models from Avontus’ Scaffold Designer software.
THE BASE
The base of every boiler is one of a few different shapes, often a V-bottom or a flat bottom that is sloped. Below the base is an ash hopper that collects the remains of the spent coal.
V-bottom boilers oftentimes have a set of beams extending across the opening with high-strength specialised ladders attached to the ends. Both the beams and the ladders are attached to u-heads and brackets and serve as the foundation for the main structure.
V-Bottom Base with Throat Beam and Ladder Supporting Structure
Flat bottom boilers are sloped to a single side where the ash hopper is located. Although less-specialised equipment is required, unique challenges are still present to properly brace the scaffolding from sliding down the slope.
Sloped Base Shown with and without BoilerBOILER STRUCTURE
The main body of the boiler is rectangular, oftentimes with chamfered corners. Burners are located throughout the boiler walls to ignite the coal and create a cyclone of heat that travels throughout. The walls in the boiler are made from high strength steel tubes that can handle large pressures from the superheated steam within them.
Main Structure Designed with Side Brackets.BULLNOSE
Near the top of the boiler the structure that cantilevers towards the centre is called the bullnose. As heat rises in the boiler, the bullnose serves to compress the air as it flows to the top. A scaffolding ‘dance floor’ (full deck) is typically installed here in order to access the underside of the bullnose as well as to collect falling debris when cleaning the boiler.
Bullnose with Dance Floor.SUPERHEATER AND PENDANTSScaffolding in Superheater and Pendants
When water is heated to the boiling point it vaporizes and turns into saturated steam. This is similar to when you boil water on your stove and the steam contains quite a bit of liquid water. Although saturated steam is useful for heating applications, it is not very useful for power generation. In a power plant saturated steam is further heated to produce a phase change into what is called superheated steam. All traces of moisture are eliminated in superheated steam giving it a much lower density and higher efficiency to run through a turbine. The very top section of a boiler is called the superheater and is where this phase change happens. Groups of high-strength steel tubes, called pendants, hang down into the boiler at varying intervals to capture the heat.
More often than not only a single plank can fit in the tight spaces between pendants. When systems scaffolding bays can be built here they are used, but commonly side brackets or tube and clamp are clamped directly to the pendants.
SCAFFOLDING CHALLENGES
Besides the logistics and accuracy issues mentioned earlier, hidden from view is an event that shocks both scaffolding companies and owners when it happens: structural failure. Surprisingly this happens quite frequently in boilers, and the most common causes are due to inadequate bracing, not enough ties, or overloaded legs. Although various systems scaffolding can sacrifice some bracing with additional ties, all manufacturers recommend bracing. A thorough structural analysis should be completed to determine the location and frequency of bracing as well as to determine if anything is overloaded.
For simple checks during the estimate phase the maximum leg loads can be calculated and validated against a safety factor.
3D Wireframe Model Exported from Scaffold Designer
Ultimately, a 3D wireframe model should be used in structural analysis software, such as SCIA Engineer®. Structural software analyses the scaffolding as a whole as well as of each load-bearing member and the type of moment connection between members.
KEEP IN MIND
Although software is very helpful for designing and estimating complex scaffolding structures, careful thought must be given to the safety and logistics of equipment and labour. Staging large quantities of scaffolding in strategic areas before construction starts can result in significant savings. There have also been advancements in lifts and hoists specifically for large scaffolds such as these. Remember that most of the internal areas where scaffolding is built and used in a power plants are considered confined spaces; you are legally obligated to follow proper emergency procedures. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Brian Webb is the CEO and Founder of Avontus Software Corporation. Avontus specializes in software for the design, estimating, asset management and billing of scaffolding, shoring, and formwork.
Phone: 01223 926298
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.avontus.co.uk
Scaffolding from a building development in Hayes, West London collapsed on Wednesday afternoon (September 30), causing local road closures and heavy traffic in the area.
The structure, surrounding an apartment block under construction, in Station Road collapsed at around 1pm.
A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed the incident happened at 12.53pm. There were no injuries and work is under way to remove the scaffolding from the road.
Layher has unveiled a new aluminium Universal Modular Beam and announced the opening of a new depot in Birmingham.
The new heavy duty beam has been designed for the UK market and connects directly to Layher’s Allround system and traditional tube and fitting scaffolds. It has a 1.25 m depth and 60 mm top and bottom chords, and will be available in a range of lengths.
The all-aluminium structure features rosette connectors on the vertical posts’ centre points, allowing it to be lined up and applied to system scaffolding.
The new Universal Modular Beam will be available during the fourth quarter of this year.
At the open day Sean Pike, Layher UK managing director added: the beam is lightweight and easily transportable, and has been in the planning stages for two to three years following requests from UK customers.
He explained the product is also designed for use in the events sector and thanks to a range of adapter pieces can easily be constructed into mezzanine flooring and dance floors, for example.
The Universal Modular Beam can also be used to construct dome structures of 35 m and above, thanks to a range of ridge beam connections.
Mr Pike also used the open day to announce the opening of a new UK depot in Birmingham next year.
The new Midlands depot will supplement the head office in Letchworth and the regional facilities in Scotland and North Yorkshire – it launched its most recent depot in Eggborough last year.
The plan is to be closer to UK customers, allowing them easy access to the six months’ worth of stock held in the UK.
HAKI’s designers have produced new, effective, safe solutions to bridge an unusually wide span in Sweden.
When the Municipality of Gotland commenced its second largest-ever construction project, the XERVON depot and assembly personnel from Örebro provided one of Sweden’s largest weather protection systems – a 4,000 square-metre weather protection system from HAKI, covering what will be the completely new Wisby high school building, the Sävehuset.
The weather protection system, which will be 64 metres long, will be completed in August 2015. It is not only the size of the weather protection system being assembled over the Sävehuset that makes it unique. Instead of attaching the weather protection system and the scaffolding to the building in the usual way, the scaffolding is being attached around the building to specially cast concrete beams in the ground. This keeps the weather protection system and scaffolding stable, and quite separate from the building.
The weather protection system spans 44.5 metres; about 64 metres of the length of the building will be under cover during the summer. Total height to the ridge is about 20 metres, and the structure is cantilevered with double adjacent queen-post trusses, i.e. without any support in the centre. The weather protection system is being built in sections, about 10 metres at a time, and the sections, which can be rolled along, are jointed together in a so-called cap solution, making them weatherproof. This allows efficient demolition and subsequent new building of the outer walls and roof, with protection from weather and wind.
”Together with XERVON we take on some of Sweden’s most challenging weather protection system projects. These need proficient design and construction personnel, the right material, expert assembly personnel and close cooperation. With our joint solutions we contribute to efficient, safe construction workplaces,” says Kjell Sundlin, Sales Manager at HAKI in Sweden.
The Sävehuset is being rebuilt by NCC/Nybergs Entreprenad, and the total budget for the project is SEK 275 million. For XERVON’s eight assembly workers, the project started in May 2015, and it will continue to February 2016, when the walls and roof of the new building will be in place. The new high school will be finished in 2017.
”For XERVON this is yet another prestige project, together with HAKI, on behalf of NCC. Last winter we contributed all the scaffolding and a large weather protection system for the renovation of the Örebro Konserthus. In the Sävehuset project, a completely different design is used to provide weather protection and the required support. In both cases these are very large, quite unique assignments for XERVON’s expert assembly personnel,” said Jens Sjöberg, CEO of XERVON in Sweden.
A scaffolder has been pronounced dead after falling from scaffolding at Maidstone TV studios.
Scaffolder Justin Newitt, was yesterday (23 september) working at height when an incident occurred resulting in a reported 15ft fall at the Maidstone TV Studios at around 8am. Police, ambulances and the Kent Air Ambulance were called, Mr Newitt was taken to hospital but died later.
An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive is taking place.
Speaking after the incident, a spokesman for the studios said:
“It is with considerable sadness that Maidstone Studios can confirm that one of our employees, Justin Newitt, was tragically involved in a fatal accident whilst at work on September 23, 2015.“We would like to extend our sincerest condolences to Justin’s family, friends and colleagues at this time.“Maidstone Studios would also like to confirm that we are co-operating fully with the relevant authorities in their on-going investigation”
West Worcestershire MP Harriett Baldwin has urged youngsters to climb the ladder to success in the scaffolding industry.
As part of a national campaign to get more construction companies to take on apprentices, Mrs Baldwin met up with Jon Stone from Malvern Scaffolding to talk about the challenges this presents.
Speaking to the Ledbury Reporter she said: “Malvern Scaffolding is a well-known local company with contracts all over the county and in Birmingham and recruits some of its staff through apprenticeships. As more and more construction projects get underway across the region, the company is eager to recruit and train more young people.
“Scaffolders are in high demand and can command great salaries so it’s a high-flying and demanding job and these skills are very valuable. Vacancies are at an all-time high and there are plenty of opportunities for people who want more vocationally-based education. I have offered Jon my help to try and make sure that we spread the word that the sky’s the limit when it comes to a job in scaffolding.”
A scaffolder has been prosecuted after he repeatedly allowed unsafe work at height to be carried out on a busy London street.
Greg Pearson, from Enfield, trading as ‘Pearsons Scaffolding’, was prosecuted by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) after a member of the public raised concerns about scaffolding work being carried out on Tavistock Street in central London.
She was so concerned for the safety of passers-by and workers on the fifteen metre high scaffold that three separate complaints including photographs and videos were passed to HSE.
HSE visited the site twice and found the incomplete scaffold to be poorly erected and unsafe work practices were putting workers at risk. No measures had been taken to prevent any falling scaffolding equipment hitting members of the public below.
HSE served a Prohibition Notice ordering work to be stopped until the scaffold was made safe, but Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that Pearson ignored this and other warnings, carrying on regardless.
The court also heard Pearson failed to respond when required to produce documents for inspection during the investigation, hindering the HSE’s efforts to ensure future work was carried out safely at other sites. Pearsons Scaffolding’s involvement at the site only ended when a second Prohibition Notice was served and the project’s Principal Contractor decided to take on another scaffolder to complete the work.
Greg Pearson, 33, of South Street, Enfield, pleaded guilty to two breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005 (6(3), 10(1)) and was given two suspended prison sentences of 10 weeks to run concurrently, suspended for 12 months. He was also ordered to pay costs of £200 and a victim surcharge of £80.
Speaking after the hearing HSE Inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers said:
“Greg Pearson repeatedly put the lives of other workers and members of the public at risk. He blatantly disregarded all warnings and enforcement action taken against him and it was just good fortune that no one was killed.It’s vital that law abiding scaffolders have confidence they will not lose work to others who underquote them because they take shortcuts at the expense of safety.This case should send a message to other scaffolders that Courts will sentence robustly even when the reckless working practices have thankfully not resulted in serious injuries or fatalities.“I applaud the member of the public who alerted us to this as thankfully we were able to avoid the workers or the public being injured or killed. We encourage people to report unsafe work to us so we can act to protect workers and the public.”
SHS appoints Michael Griffiths as Regional Director to its Doncaster Office.
SHS Integrated Services, a specialist provider of high-specification industrial scaffolding to highly regulated environments, has appointed a new regional director to its Doncaster office in a bid to boost its presence in the north east.
Michael Griffiths, 34, from Rotherham has been a prominent figure in the power and transmission sector for over eight years and will now be responsible for strengthening SHS’s relationships with existing clients and driving new business leads in the industrial, construction, civil and rail sectors across the north.
Prior to joining SHS, Mr Griffiths spent seven years working at Balfour Beatty Utility Solutions, starting as a draughtsman and progressing to become a team leader, where he was responsible for the design, feasibility and planning of contracts ranging from £10,000 to £2.5 million.
Mr Griffiths joined SHS in 2013 as part of the acquisition of Dixon Pentland Scaffolding, where he had worked since 2007, and has spent the 18 months working as a commercial manager with SHS, before being promoted into this newly created position.
Commenting on his appointment, Mr Griffiths said: “I am delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead SHS’s UK transmission & distribution division and develop the company’s presence in north east England. We have ambitious growth plans for SHS in the north east and hope to double the current turnover within the next three years while ensuring the business model remains both sustainable and diverse.
“Building on our strong presence in the area, we will be providing a wider range of services to our customers, while driving growth and increasing operations. SHS has a wide-ranging client base and we hope to secure and foster additional relationships, especially in the Yorkshire and Humber region, as we expand into the area.“With a team of highly-skilled, experienced and motivated staff at the core of the company’s operations, I have no doubt that SHS’s presence in the north east will develop as we continue delivering innovative and cost effective solutions while maintaining our high safety and quality standards.“All the stepping stones are in place to ensure the business achieves its ambitious growth plans and I am excited to be a part of this highly focussed and driven company going forward.”
SHS has witnessed a number of high-profile contract wins in recent years and has successfully developed the transmission division, providing solutions to clients such as Balfour Beatty, Amec Foster Wheeler and Babcock International. In addition to the company’s recent expansion, SHS has diversified its market sector presence, incorporating the specialist power and transmission firm it acquired in 2013 into the business’ long term growth plans.
SHS currently provides services principally to the utility, petrochemical, transmission and construction sectors but hopes to widen its operations into nuclear, rail, marine and pharmaceutical sectors as part of its growth strategy.
Gavin Payne, chief executive officer of SHS, said: “Appointing Michael to the position of regional director is an important part of our long term strategy and strengthens our existing management team in the north east. “Michael is an exceptionally dedicated and technically gifted person and will bring invaluable skills to the company. I am certain that his extensive experience and industry knowledge will have a big impact in delivering growth while nurturing existing client relationships in the region.
“Michael’s experience in a large contractor environment and knowledge of the transmission sector is invaluable to the wide range of complex projects SHS undertakes and will be of huge benefit in helping to meet our ambitious growth strategy in 2016 and beyond.“The company has gone from strength-to-strength in recent years and, as we continue to deliver exceptional quality to our customers, we are committed to holding a strong, competitive position in the market.“The company’s recent success is a reflection of our highly skilled workforce and exhibits our commitment to exceptional health and safety and focus on providing an efficient, sustainable, high quality and cost effective service.”
Established in 1998, SHS Integrated Services offers scaffold access, industrial and HVAC insulation, and construction and demolition services. It currently employs more than 300 people across the UK.
When a power plant goes offline it stops producing electricity and is a huge financial burden to the power company. To give you an idea of the cost of a power plant shutting down, consider that an average coal fired power plant can produce 600 megawatts per hour, or 600,000 kilowatt-hours. At £0.11 per kwh, this equates to a £66,000 loss in revenue per hour, or about £1.6 million per day.
The complexity of building scaffolding to service a power plant presents unique challenges to a scaffolding company. Even an average-sized boiler requires a massive amount of scaffolding and, to make matters worse, power plants are often located at remote locations that can take days to ship materials to. If a project is delayed for 8 hours because of a few missing parts, the owner is at risk of losing £528,000. A “close enough” bill of materials can put you out of business.
THE SCAFFOLDING STRUCTURE
By far the largest scaffold that needs to be built within a power plant is within the structure called the boiler. The boiler is where coal is ignited to produce superheated steam, which is in turn pushed out to the turbines to produce the electricity. Although boilers can be small, most of the boilers in power-generation are very large, requiring hundreds of people in varying shifts to build the scaffolding.
Boilers consists of four primary areas and shapes that every scaffolder needs to be aware of: the base, the main birdcage structure, the bullnose, and the superheater. Following will illustrate each area of the boiler scaffolding with automatically-generated models from Avontus’ Scaffold Designer software.
THE BASE
The base of every boiler is one of a few different shapes, often a V-bottom or a flat bottom that is sloped. Below the base is an ash hopper that collects the remains of the spent coal.
V-bottom boilers oftentimes have a set of beams extending across the opening with high-strength specialised ladders attached to the ends. Both the beams and the ladders are attached to u-heads and brackets and serve as the foundation for the main structure.
