Innovations: The F-Board, A New Revolutionary Scaffold Board

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Innovations: The F-Board, A New Revolutionary Scaffold Board

F-Board, Scaffold Board

Introducing the F-Board a revolutionary scaffold board that the makers say is set to take our industry by storm.

Made from 100% recycled plastic to the same exacting size of traditional wooden boards. The F-Board is non-slip, constantly lightweight, quick to erect and easy to handle. The question might well be asked “Why hasn’t this been done before?” For centuries now wood has been the only mainstream choice for a scaffold board but now at last a worthy successor has arrived. Wooden scaffold boards have been about for a very long time! Indeed, they were used in the construction of The Great Pyramid of Giza which was completed around 2560 B.C., over 4,500 years ago. Surely it’s time to move on? Whilst wood is an incredible material it is also a problem material and each board will have its own characteristic due to the nature of wood. We all know that a wooden board will have knots and irregularities and can warp, crack, splinter, even break. The weight can vary when water is absorbed leading to rot. How many new wooden boards are wasted in the first week, month or year? A casual remark to an experienced scaffolder back in 2006 about using plastic for a scaffold platform has led all the way to the development of the Patented F-Board system.

”Ultimately F-Board is not only better financially but additionally it will keep your site much safer”

F-Board is made from recycled UPVC making it fire retardant and impact resistant as standard. The manufacturing process gives a board that is stronger than wood. It is a consistent low weight so you can confidently load your vehicle and know exactly what weight you are carrying. F-Board has the same dimensions as wood. A Scaffolder can happily step on to a platform with its anti-slip surface knowing that the boards are safe and secure. The unique design of the internal profile means that you get the inherent strength of a manufactured product, ready to be used time after time. F-Board has a life expectancy of at least 2 to 3 times that of wood. F-Board, Scaffold Board The F-Board system includes a retaining strip which neatly and quickly locks the platform to the ledgers. This retainer can also be used in conjunction with wooden boards during the changeover to using F Board, it also ensures that one of the major trip hazards found on construction sites is eliminated, namely, the end of a scaffold board ‘tipping up’ when a weight is applied to the middle of the board. The use of the retainer also adds security in that boards cannot easily be ‘borrowed’ from the platform to be used elsewhere on the site. Trip hazards caused by warping are eliminated, no more falls through hidden internal rot, no end bands becoming dislodged, and no splinters. The boards can easily be cut to desired length using a hand saw. F-Board, Scaffold Board Another major application where this board excels is the specialist requirements sector such as asbestos and precision clean area environments. A carbon assessment comparing F-Board to a wooden board suggests that F-Board has just one-sixth the carbon footprint compared to its rival and at the end of life, F-Board Ltd will buy the boards back and recycle, subject to certain conditions. So, what’s the cost? Taken over a two or three year period for example, a cost comparison analysis clearly shows that the F-Board is the better financial option. The company has also introduced a leasing model which enables the boards to be purchased over time out of cashflow rather than the traditional method of having to pay ‘upfront’. Ultimately F-Board is not only better financially but additionally it will keep your site much safer, your company greener, it will give you the competitive edge and make your business more attractive when tendering. For more information on the F-Board visit: Website: www.fboard.co.uk YouTube: http://youtu.be/Ohy_N8JYyH8

Alert Issued for Used Imported System Scaffolding

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Alert Issued for Used Imported System Scaffolding

Dangerous Scaffolding

A scaffolding manufacturer has today issued a safety alert about dangerously corroded second-hand system scaffolding flooding the market.

As reported in the Construction Enquirer, Leading scaffolding manufacturer St Helens Plant has found an alarming rise in the amount of older substandard system scaffolding in circulation.

The company blames the situation on the fall in UK based suppliers during the economic downturn, which has forced many contractors to find alternative sources to meet the rising demand.

St Helens Plant said in a recent article, the gap is being filled by outsourced, imported used stock that when shot blasted often reveals potentially deadly corrosion.

The firm has seen a rise in failures of spigot type scaffolding. The area where the spigot comes out the Standard 4mm tube is severely corroding. The firm has alerted relevant Government bodies and contacted major scaffolding suppliers to allow them to alert customers about the potential risk to lives. A St Helens Plant spokeswoman said to the Enquirer:
“At present those within the scaffolding and construction industry cannot source the equipment needed to supply the UK demand. “Outsourcing is now the option for most. The equipment being outsourced is widely inadequate, sub-standard and unsafe.”

Cape Hong Kong Fuji Awarded Three Year Contract

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Cape Hong Kong Fuji Awarded Three Year Contract

capefeatured

Cape Plc, the international provider of critical support services to the energy and mineral resources sectors, has announced its subsidiary, Cape Hong Kong Fuji (CHKF), has been awarded a three year contract with a major power supplier in Hong Kong, for the provision of safe access services and associated services.

Cape acquired Hong Kong Fuji Technology, now CHKF, in March 2012, in order to expand the Group’s presence in this region. The business has performed well since acquisition and this contract award further demonstrates the successful integration of the acquisition.

Joe Oatley, Chief Executive of Cape commented:

“We are delighted with this contract award and look forward to building on our existing relationships in the region. In order to secure this award a cross-regional team has built on the best practice processes and knowledge in our UK operations and implemented them in our Hong Kong business to deliver an enhanced service and better value to our client. This demonstrates the progress we have made in implementing our strategy to work as one global business to deliver value to our key stakeholders.”

Turner Access Signs Deal with Danish Rental Giant

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Turner Access Signs Deal with Danish Rental Giant

turnerdeal

Turner Access has announced its agreement with Pitzner to be the distributors of the Turner OCTO system scaffolding in Denmark.

After seven months of negotiations in Copenhagen and in Glasgow Turner Access and Pitzner finally signed the agreement last week. Pitzner is the largest Danish owned rental company, providing machinery and equipment hire for a range of business sectors across Denmark. Pitzner is also the largest supplier of scaffolding equipment for hire in Denmark. Turner Access Managing Director, Ian Wilson commented on the company’s website: 

“With over 40 years of experience in the scaffolding sales and rental market in Denmark, Pitzner is the ideal partner to help promote and supply Turner OCTO® system scaffolding in this important sector of the Scandinavian Market.

“Being part of a family owned business group, similar to the Turner Group, Pitzner is also a good fit for Turner Fabrication in terms of vision and values.

“We look forward to a long and successful relationship as we jointly develop our business in Denmark.”

Pitzner CEO, Ole Wamsler, said:
“We have a highly complex product range and volume, which means we have a strong team of experts to build solutions for our customers. “In all other markets that Turner Access operates within, their expertise is undeniable, so we take it as a blue stamp from a real heavyweight in the industry that they have chosen to work with us.”  

Peri provides scaffolding for ISET Tower construction in Russia

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Peri provides scaffolding for ISET Tower construction in Russia

peri

Peri, a leading supplier of scaffolding systems around the world, has been selected to provide the climbing formwork for the construction of the Russian Yekaterinburg’s ISET Tower.

Engineers from Peri have developed a scaffolding system built to withstand the Urals’ high winds and the tower’s unique multi-dimensional elevator shafts. The formwork is a modified version of Peri’s ACS 100 climbing unit and is entirely self-climbing. The unit will feature a suspended TRIO panel and working platforms at every level. The ISET Tower is scheduled to be completed this summer and will stand at a height of 685 feet above sea level. The tower will have 52 floors containing a total of 250 private apartments and a variety of service facilities. Parking spaces for the tower’s future occupants will be held inside four underground levels.
Chief Engineer Golovin Evgeniy Borisovich said:
“We decided to use the proven PERI self-climbing formwork systems, because they are easy to handle and ensure complete safety in high-rise construction. PERI specialists have consistently provided us with operational support.”

Scaffolding Inspection Device Wins Beaumont Safety Trophy Award 2014

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Scaffolding Inspection Device Wins Beaumont Safety Trophy Award 2014

Safetime Team

A innovative scaffolding inspection device has been awarded this years prestigious Beaumont Safety Trophy Award.

London based Safetime have been awarded the prestigious safety trophy for its revolutionary scaffolding inspection device system. The Beaumont Safety Trophy is awarded annually to an  individual or company for the best device or method of working implemented for preventing accidents in the Construction Industry. Safetime’s Co-Founder, Carl Sharley told ScaffMag:
“We are very proud of our achievement in winning the prestigious Beaumont Safety Award.  We were up against some incredible competitors, and it really shows that the industry is keen to move forward and embrace technology by “bringing inspections into the 21st century”.  We would also like to thank our supply chain partners who have helped us along the way, also our users who themselves have come up with some incredible ideas which we have managed to integrate within the system.”

Safetime Scaffold inspection device

The Safetime device and Tablet App eliminates the procedure of repeatedly filling in the same old tagging system onsite and then inputting the same data on a scaffold register. With Safetime this is all done in real time using Near Field Communication (NFC) and cloud technology. Find out more about Safetime from our previous article        

National Think Tank Calling For More Women In Construction Is Backed By Suffolk Firm.

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National Think Tank Calling For More Women In Construction Is Backed By Suffolk Firm.

A national think tank has produced a report calling on the construction industry to do more to recruit women has been backed by a female-led Suffolk scaffolding contractor.

Apex Scaffolding Sally Peck from Lowestoft based Apex Scaffolding wants to encourage more women into the sector, and raise awareness of the interesting and varied career opportunities which the industry offers. Through offering work experience, supporting other female-led local companies and working with schools she hopes to increase the number of women in the sector in Suffolk. The Smith Institute paper, called Building the future: women in construction, reports that women make up just 11 % of staff in the construction industry, and just 1 % of staff who are based on site. Sally commented: “We are now emerging from what has been a tough time for the industry, but economic growth will increase demand for skilled workers, so the industry should be doing more right now to encourage women into the sector. The variety in the sector is vast, and the skills needed are wide-ranging. “All of the women I know in construction are fantastic at their jobs and deliver a very high standard of work. “It is true that women have to work harder to prove ourselves and to gain credibility, although I don’t believe that is necessarily a bad thing. I’d rather earn the trust and respect of my clients and change any preconceptions they may have about women through the service my business delivers.” “Both Apex Scaffolding and our sister company Apex Roofing have strong female leaders, and we have seen a fantastic start to the year in terms of work coming in and projects finishing and we’re feeling very positive for the year ahead.” The Smith report calls for leaders from within he sector to champion the case for change, an increase in mentoring and peer support for women entering the industry, more government support for programmes designed to support women coming into the industry and better careers advice in schools.

Scaffolding Success At The 2014 Construction News Specialist Awards

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Scaffolding Success At The 2014 Construction News Specialist Awards

Two scaffolding firms have won prestigious accolades at this years Construction News Specialist Awards held in London.

The tenth Construction News Specialist Awards 2014 took place on March 19th at the London Hilton on Park Lane in London. Over 650 of the UK’s leading specialist contractors took part to recognise and celebrate the very best specialist contractors across the UK. Chris Sedgeman Scaffolding Ltd Wins Project Of The Year 2014  Cornish scaffolding contractor Chris Sedgeman Scaffolding Ltd picked up the Project Of The Year 2014 (in the subcontract up to 500K category), for their incredible work on South Crofty Tin Mine (Scaffolding Pyramid) Scaffolding Chris Sedgeman of Chris Sedgeman Scaffolding Ltd said:
“We are extremely pleased to have been given this coveted award for Project of the Year. The contract at South Crofty tin mine has been a real team effort and has attracted a lot of interest, understandably. The pyramid scaffold there featured more than 9000 Plettac System Components, 8000 boards, 20,000 fittings and 3,300 scaffold tubes. It’s been a massive task, and one we have all relished taking part in and to be given this accolade by Construction News is absolutely superb.”
 Allied Scaffolding Ltd Wins Access & Scaffolding Specialist Award 2014 Manchester based Allied Scaffolding Ltd scooped the 2014 Access & Scaffolding Specialist Award, for their outstanding work on Manchester Town Hall and a strong commitment to the local community. Scaffolding James Brierley, Managing Director of Allied Scaffolding Ltd said:
“We are delighted to have won the award, and would like to thank Construction News, and our hard working staff. Thanks also to Laing O’Rourke and Manchester Council for giving us the opportunity on the Town Hall Transformation Project. It was a great night. Well done to all award winners.”
For a full list of 2014 finalists, award winners and images from the event, visit: www.cnspecialistsawards.com

XERVON Palmers Wins Prestigious Safety Award

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XERVON Palmers Wins Prestigious Safety Award

XERVON Palmers Heathrow Airport

XERVON Palmers, has been awarded a prestigious safety award for scaffolding and access work on Heathrow Airport.

Scaffolding contractor, XERVON Palmers, has been awarded a prestigious Heathrow Airport Limited (HAL) safety award – for their extensive scaffolding and access work on the new multi-million pound Terminal 2B “Queen’s Terminal” project. It is understood this is the first time a scaffolding contractor has won one of the coveted HAL awards. The HAL awards have twelve categories (Behavioral Safety Champion, Training Initiative, Leadership, Innovation, Team, Team Support, Project, Individual, Safety Professional, Supervisor, Design and Health) and are designed to recognise all those who have made an “outstanding contribution to health & safety within development in 2013 at Heathrow Airport.” XERVON Palmers won an award in the ‘Designing for Safety’ category – which acknowledged the design and safe construction of a scaffold which was built during nightshifts, within a high risk environment, where care and attention to detail had to be ensured or works could potentially have affected the control and lighting of all the take-off and landing runways at the airport. The HAL awards were presented by John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow Development Director and David Pyle, Heathrow Head of Safety at an Award’s ceremony in London earlier this Spring and XERVON Palmers were represented by the scaffolding nightshift foreman and two of the airport division’s workforce. Ian McFarlane, Director for Business & Project Development at XERVON Palmers said:
“This is a great tribute to our workforce and support staff who deliver access & scaffolding daily at Heathrow. Our thanks and big well done to all involved for their hard work in achieving this excellent award.”
And Donald Morrison, CEO of XERVON Palmers added:
“We are all very proud of the quality of our work at Heathrow’s Terminal T2B and of the attentive safety culture associated with that – delivering high quality scaffolding and access solutions, 100% safely, within a challenging work environment.”

Scaffolding Firm In Court For Catalogue Of Safety Failings

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Scaffolding Firm In Court For Catalogue Of Safety Failings
Scaffolding
A still image from CCTV showing the unsafe scaffolding work.

A Hertfordshire scaffolding firm has been fined for a catalogue of safety failings – including throwing and catching fittings over the heads of shoppers – as scaffolders erected two scaffolds outside an Oxford department store.

Darren Baker Scaffolding Limited also failed to ensure the structures outside Debenhams on George Street and Magdalen Street were properly configured, braced and tied, which undermined their stability. The Cheshunt-based company was prosecuted today (17 March) by the Health and Safety Executive after an investigation uncovered a series of issues. They included:
  • Metal fittings were thrown from a flatbed lorry over the heads of passers-by – as captured by CCTV
  • Heavy scaffold poles were also hoisted above shoppers with no thought to their safety
  • Pedestrians were forced to walk into the road to avoid the activity, with no measures in place to protect them from passing vehicles
  • The two scaffolds were not built to an approved safe design and were inadequately braced and tied
  • They were also poorly configured, with the potential for overloading parts of the structure, and loads could not be transferred safely to the ground
The scaffolds were erected on the morning of Sunday 30 September 2012 when there was significant footfall in the area. Oxford Magistrates’ Court heard that although nobody was injured, either from the work or from a collapse or fall, the activity was inherently unsafe. HSE established that as a result of the failings there was a significant risk that the scaffold could have collapsed. Darren Baker Scaffolding Limited, of Turners Hill, Cheshunt, Herts, was fined a total of £10,000 and ordered to pay a further £760 in costs after pleading guilty to a single breach of the Health and Safety at Work etc Act 1974 and four breaches of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. After the hearing HSE inspector Peter Snelgrove commented:
“The issues here are two-fold. There were clear concerns with the manner in which the scaffolds were erected, as captured by CCTV. Then there are the failings with the structures themselves, the fact they weren’t built to an approved design and were inadequately tied and braced. “All scaffolds should be erected in a safe manner, but the risks are magnified when you are working in a busy city centre location with lots of traffic and pedestrians, as was the case here. “Little thought was given to shoppers as fittings and poles were tossed or passed over their heads, and today’s conviction serves to illustrate the seriousness of the failings we uncovered. Thankfully nobody was injured, but that is the only saving grace.”
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