Masonry Magazine March 2003 Page. 25
GROUT PUMPS
A main safety issue is that side brackets, like this bil-jax Adjustable Saddle Hanger, should be used for personnel only.
You want to use what we call 'mud sills, generally 2-by-12-inch planking run underneath the legs. The idea is to have the legs sit on base plates or leveling jacks and the base plates sit on top of the mud sill to help distribute the weight of all the brick and block that's going to be up there with the workers."
One thing some masons and mason contractors want to do is cheat on bracing "just a little bit." They have a tendency to want to take some of those cross braces out. Storrer hopes you don't do that. "What you find if you get too many of those out, it drastically reduces the load capacity of the scaffolding. If masons are going to remove cross bracing to load the platform with material, they need to get it back in after the material is up there."
One contractor we spoke with pointed out that putting up worker protection-a canvas "tent" on top of the scaffolding in inclement weather-can turn it into a giant sailboat. What is the advice for dealing with inclement weather protection? "Under those circumstances you need to drastically increase the number of ties you have into the building," responds Storrer. "It's not something where there's a hard and fast rule, it's really going to depend on how high the scaffolding is, the velocity of the wind, etc. This is a situation where you might need to get an onsite engineer to take a look at the system. The competent person, depending on his level of training and expertise, might be able to determine how many additional ties they need and where they should be placed."
We mentioned "cheating" on side braces. There's one other thing that masonry contractors have a tendency to do that's really not a good practice. As Storrer says, "It has to do with the use of side or personnel brackets. Those are used between the scaffold and the wall that's going up, to support the planks for the masons to stand on. There's a tendency for contractors to not only put those brackets on the wall side but also on the side of the scaffolding away from the wall. They have a tendency to set palettes of block up there, half on the bracket and half on the scaffolding itself. If you're not careful you overload those side brackets. Once that happens you run the risk of them failing, Remember, those side brackets are designed to support about 500 pounds, not the 1200 to 1500 pounds of a cube of blocks or bricks."
So those are some tips and techniques to avoid scaffolding accidents and failures. Let us know if you have any other tricks of the trade to pass on to other mason contractors working with these frames that reach for the sky. The Voice of the Mason Contractor
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March 2003
Masonry 23