Scaffolding incident
ACTIVITY:
ACCESS & EGRESS & WORKING AT HEIGHT
TITLE
Scaffolding incident
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
WHAT HAPPENED
There was an Incident at Torr Works, which involved a Sub-Contractor falling from a short scaffold tower. The Sub-Contractor leaned against a bar of the scaffold tower, which failed, allowing him to fall to the ground. Fortunately the height of the fall was only approximately 1m and he was not seriously injured. Obviously, the incident had the potential to be a fatality had it been from a greater height.
The accident investigation showed that the contractor had hired the scaffolding from a reputable hire company. During erection, the contractor had failed to notice that that both ends and the centre of the bar that failed showed signs of fatigue. The crack in the centre bar was partially obscured by a label.
ACCIDENT / INCIDENT IMAGES
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS TAKEN
All Scaffolds and Working Platforms should be properly constructed to provide adequate working space and comply with the Construction (Health Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1996.
No scaffold may be erected, modified or dismantled, except under the supervision of an experienced and competent person. All structures should be inspected by the competent person before use.
A competent person is accepted as: A person who has practical and theoretical knowledge together with practical experience of what they are to examine, so as to enable them to detect errors, defects, faults or weaknesses which it is the purpose of the examination or inspection to discover; and to assess the importance of any such discovery.
LEARNING POINTS / ACTIONS IMAGES
ACTIVITY:
ACCESS & EGRESS & WORKING AT HEIGHT
Go Back to Search Critera