Masonry Magazine March 2003 Page. 24
SCAFFOLDING
He goes on to say, "Then each individual type of scaffolding, like system scaffold, tube and clamp, crank up, or tube and cross brace, would also have unique issues to deal with for the worker. To handle that, many of our components have instructional decals on the product. Some, like side brackets, walk boards and hoist arms that are common in masonry set ups, are actually going to have capacities printed right on the product so the end user will know what the capacity is."
He admits, "We don't do that with scaffold frames because of the wide variation of the way they can be set up. If a customer is interested in the load bearing capacity of scaffold frames, they need to call us so we can get more information as to how they're loading them and then we can give them the capacities that way, based upon how they are using them."
Bil-jax also offers a 20-minute video as part of a safety training package called "Commitments to Safety." The second half of that video covers maintenance, an often overlooked and critical component to safety.
Maintaining the Scaffold
"A GENERIC CHECKLIST of things to look for when inspecting scaffolding would obviously include watching for any bent components," says Storrer. "Another area of concern is rusted components, not just surface rust but where the rust has pitted the steel or where you can tell the rust is starting to pit into the metal. That material should be taken out of inventory. Sometimes metal cracks right next to a weld," he adds, "especially if the component has been overloaded. Any cracked welds, or cracks around the weld, disqualifies the scaffolding."
Side brackets are a very key component, what bil-jax calls personnel brackets. They're the brackets that hang from the side of the scaffolding on which the mason stands next to the wall. "They need to have special attention paid to those brackets," acknowledges Storrer. "In particular the saddle, the part that hangs on the scaffolding frame itself. You need to make sure that's not spread open or in some way twisted, bent, or deformed. That can indicate that the side bracket's been overloaded at some point. That should certainly be pulled from service if that's found."
One of the important things to watch for, especially as it applies to masonry, is proper footing under the scaffold. "Masons need to make sure they're not setting the scaffolding up on recently back-filled areas where you can have settling and displacement of the soil under the scaffold," Storrer cautions. "Because the nature of masonry assumes a heavy duty loading, you need to make sure you have good footing underneath. Along those lines, the idea of erecting the scaffolding is that you have to start at the bottom and work up."
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22 Masonry
March 2003