Masonry Magazine December 2016 Page. 23
SCAFFOLD PLANKS AND DECKING
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By Jared Kennison
SOUTHERN PINE INSPECTION BUREAU
Quality.Together
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
To WHOM h MAYCoNCERH
Re: MACHINE ANO VrsuALlY GRAoEo ScAFFOLO PLANX
THERE HAYE BEEN SOME RECENT QUESTTONS AS lO IBE COMPARATIVE SUITABILITY OF VISUAl 0165 SCMFOLO l'UlTHESE TWO GRADES ARE INTERCHANGEABLE, AS THEY HAVE THE SAME PUBUSHED DESTGNVAlUES ANDAREVISUAUY GRAlla> lO ME[T Tl!� REQUIREMENTS Of ASTM STANDARD 0245 AND D2555. THE PUBLISHED DESIGN VAlUES W{R( MODI FIED USING lliE PROCEDURES SHOWN IN CALCULATING APPAREJIT RaIABILITY OF Waco SCAFFOLD f'I.ANKS AS PUBLISHED BY lliE JOURNALDH SllllJCTU!tlL SAFITY, 2(1984) 47-47, AHO UPDATED IH 1993,
{N VISUAL GRADING, DENSITY IS USED lO ELIMINATE LOW STRENGTH PltCES lliAT MAY NOT Mffi THE PUBLISHED VALUES. {N MAOIIK[
GRADING, EACH PIECE IS EVALUATED BY A MACHINE APPROVED BY THE AMERICAN LUMBER SIANOARD CoMMITTEE Bo.lRD or REVIEW. PRIOR TO PRODUCTION, lliE Mill MUST PRODUCE A QUALlfYING RUN PER IBE INSPECnON AGCNCJES MAtllJN! GIWl!I> lUMBal PROCEDURES. DURING PRODUCTION lliE MIU PERIODICAUY SAMPUS IBE SELECTED PROOIICTION AND PERRlliMS SIR�IIGTH AND STIFFNESS TtSTS TO YERlfY CONTORMANC[ WITH TH� STANDARD. T YPICAUY, MACHINE GRADED PflOOUCTJON HAS SIGNIFICANTLY USS VARIATION THAN VISUALLY GRADEO PRODUCTION.
PROPERLY GRADED AND LABElED 0165 ScAFFOLD PLANK AND MSR 2200F,-1.8E SCAFFOU> PLANX ARE INTEHDED FOR THE SAME APPlJCATIONS WITH EACH MSR PLANK BONGINDIVIDUALLY EVALUATED lO MEE! lliE STRENGTH R�QUIROIENTS.
Bob Browder
Director Lumber Division
Web:sp,b,org Phone:850.43~2611 Fax:850.434.1290 / PO.BtR10915.PetlSOCOlo.Flafll1o32521
A letter from the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau regarding how to identify properly graded and labeled scaffold plank.
20 I MASONRY � December 2016 � www.masoncontractors.org
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ONE OF THE MOST DURABLE and cost-effective choices for scaffold plank by mason contractors is solid sawn scaffold plank. The two main choices these days are MSR (Machine Stress Rated) and DI 65 (Dense Industrial 65), both made from Southern yellow pine species, manufactured mostly in the Southern United States. Before the very first load of "Scaffold Grade" plank was made in 1972, mason contractors and other trades used solid lumber boards of whatever species they could find. In that year, SPIB (the Southern Pine Inspection Bureau), which is one of the third-party inspection agencies, created a higher grade, which is the Scaffold Grade that we know today.
The DI 65 Scaffold Gr ade was intended to satisfy safety requirements for scaffold plank set by OSHA/ ANSI. As with other graded lumber products, each plank or batch is visually inspected by a certified lumber grader for characteristics and defects before it can be stamped as scaffold plank. Characteristics like knot size, splits, breaks, slope of grain, growth rings, etc., all have allowable specs within the grade rule.
Technological advancements have allowed mills to use a more efficient
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