The Skaftray, designed and built in the UK, can be added to any scaffold tower, podium steps or MEWP to improve safety and productivity.
Users of scaffold towers have long improvised methods for holding and storing tools and materials while working at heights. As a result, fellow workers and innocent bystanders have been at risk to falling objects as the user juggled to keep everything in place while trying to complete the task in hand.
Health and safety inspectors regularly criticised the practice of precariously balancing items on wooden or makeshift planks placed across the top of the access equipment. The developers of Skaftray had been struck by how often they had witnessed such scenes and decided there had to be a better way.
Safety aside, the amount of time wasted while a site operative climbs to the top of the tower only to discover they have left vital bits of equipment at the bottom and has to clamber back down again is addressed thereby improving productivity.
Light in weight, but able to hold a recommended load of 20kg, Skafray is robustly built from either HDPE or aluminium, both of which are 100% recyclable. It can be fitted to any standard scaffolding tower or podium steps. It is slotted over the tower side rails, adjusted to fit any dimension of rail and then latched using a simple securing device at one end. This means that, even if the tray is moved at one side, it will remain secured in position to avoid accidents.
It is spacious enough to contain large tools and materials, relatively large pieces of equipment and general items for all manner of construction, maintenance and repair tasks.
Development of the Skaftray
The Skaftray has been developed by a team of construction industry veterans and scaffolding experts determined to get to grips with the problem of tool storage on scaffolding towers once and for all by giving operatives an easy to use, lightweight method for organising their equipment conveniently and safely.
The designers worked with a design team from the University of East London and incorporated expert advice from the Prefabricated Access Suppliers’ and Manufacturers’ Association (PASMA) before producing a prototype design. Full production is due to begin in October with details of how the product will be distributed to follow.
Health and safety experts have welcomed this development as it substantially reduces the risk of falling items while working at heights, while employers and clients have quickly grasped the productivity potential.
Part of a wall at the site of the former Thompson Mill, in Tetley Street, Bradford, which was destroyed by fire last October, collapsed yesterday, bringing down scaffolding along with it.
The emergency services were called to the site at about 6.30pm after the wall and scaffolding came down.
Mark Rogerson, watch commander at Bradford fire station, said crews used thermal imaging cameras and a sniffer dog to make sure there was nobody trapped under the rubble.
He said: “The building itself is down, but they left up the external walls which go around the outside of the site and around the outside of that was the scaffolding which they had been using.”
Mr Rogerson said it was not yet known what caused the 20ft by 40ft section of the wall to collapse.
A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said a nearby window was smashed by a piece of the scaffolding, which was about three floors high.
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The payout of 14 pence a share, is up 17 percent from 2010, the Uxbridge, England-based company said in a statement. Sales rose 11 percent to 722.5 million pounds ($1.1 billion), while profit after tax slid 5.5 percent to 49.7 million pounds.
The company, which counts the biggest energy companies as clients, is working on liquefied natural gas plants in Australia, and said Asia is its strongest growth market.
It rose 3.6 percent to 445 pence by 9:37 a.m. in London, giving the company a market value of 528 million pounds.
“We’ve always said we’d be progressive about dividends,” Chief Executive Officer Martin May said by phone. “We’ve got more than 60 percent of our 2012 consensus earnings already in the order book.” The dividend “indicates our confidence.”
Consensus analyst estimates for revenue this year are currently about 760 million pounds. The company has said it expects sales to reach about 785 million pounds.
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AN eyewitness said “it was a miracle nobody was killed” when scaffolding collapsed in a town centre.
A 45-year-old worker plunged 15ft to the floor during the incident on Market Street, Chorley on Sunday.
Debris was scattered the pavement and road as the entire structure, which was at the front of Hampson’s toy shop, collapsed.
Matthew Phillipson, 36, was walking along Market Street when he saw the structure crash to the floor.
He said: “I was on the same side of the road, about 50 yards away, when I saw the scaffolding start to move.
“It was like everything happened in slow mot-ion, it just teetered over and smashed on the footpath and road.
“It made a massive crashing noise and I could see metal poles and planks all over the place.
“We ran over and saw there was a man who had fallen. My friend told him to stay still and I phoned for an amb-ulance.
“It’s lucky it happened when the street was quiet. If there had been pedestrians walking past at the time they could easily have been killed.”
“At the time it happened it was a bit breezy but not blowing a gale.”
Paramedics attended to the worker at the scene but he did not require hospital treatment.
Hampson’s is a long-standing Chorley business. The premises are currently undergoing extensive refurbishment.
Police sealed off the road in both directions for several hours as investigations began into the how the incident happened and the material was cleared from the road and pavement.
A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said they were aware of the incident and were currently conducting further inquiries.
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The Warrington based firm which offers both consultancy and training arms works within the construction industry across the UK and Middle East, with clients including Construction Skills, Carillion, BAE and NSG UK.
Launched in 2005 by directors Ian Fyall and Simon Hughes, Simian Risk Group has increased turnover year-on-year, hitting £1.5million in the financial year end to October 2011.
Simian Risk Group operates Simian Risk – the core consultancy arm of the business – and Simian Skill, which offers training to some of the UK’s biggest scaffolding firms as well as an apprenticeship programme which has so far trained more than 200 young people to go into the construction industry.
Director Ian Fyall said that despite the recession, the firm has grown steadily over the past 18 months.
“We have had a strong first quarter with a raft of new contract wins and are predicting further growth this year to hit a turnover of £1.7million for 2012. Due to our hard work and expertise in our sector Simian has been able to buck the trend in what has been a tough economic climate.
“Over the next nine months we are aiming to grow both the health and safety consultancy arm and the training arm across the UK, in the UAE and worldwide.
“We improved turnover in all of our departments in the last financial year and gained new contracts with Galliford Try, Bramall, BAE, Carillion, Pochin, Bardsleys and Kier as well as a long list of training clients.”
With 25 members of staff, Simian Risk Group is the UK’s biggest scaffolding health and safety advisor, with Simian Skill providing a combination of practical and classroom-based access and work at height training from their Warrington based training centre. The 15,000 sq ft centre is the UK’s only multi-system scaffolding centre in the UK, equipped with Layher, Kwikstage, Cuplok, Haki, Peri Up, Plettac, K-LOK and Tradlok scaffolding systems.
Director Simon Hughes said: “We have continued to grow Simian Risk Management as the mainstay of the business providing consultancy, retained service agreements in safety, inspections and expert witness work. We are also seeing a significant increase in demand for our Simian Skill training programmes, which offers industry standard qualifications.
“Last Year we entered into a guaranteed apprenticeship contract with the Construction Industry Solutions and have had 25 achievers to date. These out of work young people – many from third generation unemployed families – all passed with a scaffolding diploma and have been found jobs where they can carry on their apprenticeships under Construction Industry Solutions from Manchester.
“This growth has meant we have had to take on two more instructors, one secretary and one apprentice in administration.”
Simon added: “Between Ian and I, we have over 35 years’ experience in the scaffolding industry, as health and safety advisors and Chartered Members of IOSH in the construction, power, nuclear and oil and gas industries.
“Health and safety is most certainly the biggest priority in the scaffolding industry and there are substantial penalties for those firms who act negligently. The construction sector has had to up its game and we all need to take responsibility for the workers in our care. We offer first class up to date training and consultancy which minimises the risk for those working at height and their employers.”
Simian’s success in the Middle East led to the group opening a second training centre in the UAE in April offering scaffolding courses, Safety Training and Work at Height Courses.
Simon said: “We are now working with some of the major players and governments in the region and are often in the Middle East to provide consultancy services.”
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King’s College London, which owns the former Shoefayre building at 129-131 Borough High Street and the nearby building at numbers 141-143 in the same street, has written to Southwark Council confirming its intention to remove the scaffolding in advance of this summer’s Olympic Games.
For the past five months Cathedrals ward councillor David Noakes has worked with residents,Better Bankside and campaigning organisations including Southwark Living Streets and Boroughbabies, to urge council officers to take enforcement action against the college if it didn’t take steps to improve the appearance of the buildings.
Now King’s College London has confirmed to the council that it is planning to move the structural support inside the buildings, enabling the pavements to be cleared of scaffolding and returned to their full width.
If the project runs to time, work could start soon after Easter and be completed by mid-July.
KCL says that the internal reinforcement to the buildings is a temporary measure and it intends to redevelop the site in due course.
“Local residents and businesses have consistently told us what a blight this scaffolding is to our historic high street and the prospect that the Borough High Street will finally be scaffolding free is fantastic news,” says Cllr Noakes.
Erina Rayner, a Borough High Street resident and secretary of Southwark Living Streets, said: “It is a huge relief that finally, after 7 years, the ugly scaffolding on the KCL buildings inBorough High Street will be coming down.
“Southwark Living Streets has been actively campaigning since 2005 for improvements to the public realm, including all key high streets. Removal of the scaffolding means that TfL can complete the repaving works, so not only will the barnacles on the High Street be gone, pedestrians will be able to walk unimpaired. Hooray!”
The presence of the scaffolding meant that the pavement in front of the two buildings could not be upgraded during the recent resurfacing of Borough High Street by Transport for London. Southwark Council has agreed to ask TfL to bring the two sections of footway up to the same standard once the scaffolding has been removed.
