Mobile scaff tower

[Humey]

We are currently using a Targes mobile scaff tower at work and I am becoming more and more reluctant to use it. I hardly ever get the help to erect the tower, consequently I hardly ever use it and I am usually expected to do all focussing sessions etc on my own. I just want to clarify a couple of points. I am PASMA trained but no one else in the school is, am I correct in thinking that it requires 2 PASMA trained individuals to erect the tower? Am I well within my rights to say I will not erect or use the tower until someone else is trained?

 

I think I know the answer to both of the above questions but I just want clarification

[paulears]

I'm not the best person to ask, but I see no reason for the trained person not to accept assistance from anyone who can work under their direction. The most dangerous thing about towers in my view is that trained or not, you should not be up one without somebody else to assist, or at least monitor you. In my youth, I've done this myself - but as going up and down the tower was killing me, I cut corners. To make it worse, the old victorian venue had horizontal tie-bars that fouled the top of the tower, which with the brakes off meant just a few inches of tilt, and the opposite side would slip under. I'd developed the neat (but stonkingly stupid) trick of sitting on the tie-bar, where the centre vertical met the horizontal, and tipping the tower from there. It took a while to develop the trick, but when focusing on my own as I always did, it saved huge amounts of time and energy - UNTIL I over balanced the tower, and it fell over, leaving me sitting on the bar, up in the air - about 15-16ft above the ground, where I waited for three hours until I heard somebody else in the building! Since then, regulation and legislation apart, I have never done ladders, tower or ropes alone - it takes an event like that to go through my skull and make me think!

 

I do know that PASMA or not, I'd want somebody else to help me.

[Humey]

I dont want it to take me to hurt myself before a change is made. Climbing up and down the tower is a killer, it can be dangerous as the more tired you get the more prone to accidents like missing footing etc. Show or no show, safety comes first

[kerry davies]

Before anyone can answer directly, could you clarify what you mean by a "Targes mobile scaff tower" please?

 

If you mean a standard aluminium scaffold tower then please Read This Lot in conjunction with the manufacturers method statement and any information given to you on your PASMA course.

 

As a general rule there needs to be at least one competent person in charge of assembly and if you are that "competent person" then whatever you deem necessary is what happens... or should happen!

 

The second person does not necessarily require PASMA training if they are not climbing, obviously it is not a "mobile scaff tower" when anyone or anything is up it, and remember HASAWA starts with; "You have a duty of care to yourself and....."

You certainly do not climb and work at height when alone in the space no matter what Paul and I used to do. We survived, just, others may not.

[madorangepanda]

What is the exact model of the scaffold tower? I'm pretty certain it will say in the assembly instructions that you need two people. Or at least reference passing components to a colleague.

 

You don't need to be PASMA trained, merely competent.

 

Most site safety officers I've spoken too recently seem happy for a trained person to be assisted by untrained people. But they certainly wouldn't be happy with just one person erecting or dismantling anything other than a very low level tower.

[Russ83]

How it works at my school:

I have a PASMA certificate as I am the main user of the tower but can enlist the help of any of the other staff in the school who have been on the working at heights awareness course. I am the person who inspects the parts, puts it together and signs it off, the others just need to pass the parts and know how to climb up it.

 

...You don't need to be PASMA trained, merely competent.

And for the sake of £100 and a day at your local HSS (or other training venue) it is easier to have the piece of paper when working for the council/education. Ok the refresher course might be a pain but it keeps you up to date with legislation and stops you developing bad habits.

[bigclive]

Although a tower could be built by a single person, it's common sense to have at least an assistant to pass up poles, frames and boards. It's also a lot safer to have a second person there when work at height is involved.

[sleah]

Bringing up old topic as it's relevent.....

 

Does anyone know when (or even if for that matter) the "regulations" changed concerning how a tower is errected? It would potentially have been a year or two ago.

 

The reason I ask, is the last couple of times I've used ours, it has been errected by our estates people (even though I'm trained and have the 'card' (it's a man-power thing)) they have errected it such that the internal ladder alternates at the first platform rather than one above the other. (we only use two sections in this instance)

In order to acheive the correct working height, this means there is less than 6ft between platforms.

Consequently I risk, and occasionally do, banging my head on the upper platform when walking between traps.

 

I was told the reason was to prevent someone falling from the top trap straight down to the ground. I don't know where it came from, whether someone from my workplace or whoever advised them or instruction from the manufacturer.

 

 

To my mind, the tower has gone from being a relatively low risk, safe piece of equipment for someone competent to use, to being fairly dangerous due to risk of banging head!

 

Anyone else come across this?

[the kid]

IT should all be in the user manual, IF any course I have done the pasma one always said just read the manual and you will be fine.

 

If I am right you should not have 2 traps open at one time anyway, to stop exactly what you say about, - falling through. You might find that the manufacturers make half height sections, which might adjust your construction style, and thus make space to have 6ft between levels.

[OllieDuff]

One could argue that the staff member who has got a PASMA cert and the most experience in erecting and using the tower should be having some input into designing a safe and effective system of work. If you believe that the current system is inadequate or impractical, then draft a document outlining your own system and risk assessment and pitch it to the highers. Provided that the system you come up with is as safe as reasonably practical and appropriate to the venue, equipment and the competence and experience levels of the people involved, then this shouldn't be a problem.

One argument would be that adding an extra person with the same level of training does not meaningfully improve safety compared to a person who doesn't have the ticket but can be trusted to act sensibly and take direction from the (certified) person in charge. The second person isn't adding new information or skills that can't easily be conveyed by one PASMA trained person. It is true that if all your crew are trained and experienced then you might be able to work faster without compromising safety - depending on how much time you have to do the work in this might be relevant to you.

[Dave m]

we'd have to wear headgear anyway.

 

although the risk is sometimes that they fall off, rather than protect your head.

 

baseball type caps with a liner are actually better

[sleah]

we'd have to wear headgear anyway.

 

although the risk is sometimes that they fall off, rather than protect your head.

 

baseball type caps with a liner are actually better

 

Hard hats are not needed aloft the tower (not in our situation anyway) when there is nothing to fall on your noggin. Those on the ground however..

In fact, climbing the tower wearing a hard had would probably be quite hazardous due to catching it and it impairing your vision. A bump cap is a reasonable compromise as it's closer to the head.

My weapon of choice is the beanie hat - which like a pratt I forgot on the day in question, more fool me. :(

 

I'm not quoting ANY regulation or guidlines, just what I think is common sense. :)

[kerry davies]

Hard hats are not needed aloft the tower (not in our situation anyway) when there is nothing to fall on your noggin.

Common misconception, Simon. Next time you see a linesman up a pole with the sky above him ask yourself why he is wearing a hard hat.

 

It is to prevent him banging his noggin while ascending and falling off the ladder clutching his head going; "Ouch!"

 

Obviously peakless helmets are preferable because of the vision thing and are becoming the norm these days. Within reason anything that protects and is comfortable is your choice but not wearing anything is, for me, a No-No.

 

Oh, and chinstraps stop your mouth hanging open AND the hat falling off.

[s buckley-jones]

"You certainly do not climb and work at height when alone in the space no matter what Paul and I used to do. We survived, just, others may not."

 

my house rule is that . When you are in working alone you keep your feet on the ground . simple and to the point understood by most people