The scaffold goes up, the crew comes down, work starts. The most critical step in between is usually the one passed through fastest: taking delivery. What follows are the items found missing most often on site.
01The base
What is the scaffold standing on? A standard resting straight on soil sinks with the first rain. There should be a base plate spreading the load, and timber packing under it where needed. Base jacks should not be wound out to their limit; if they are, add a lift and reset them.
02Plumb
Are the standards vertical? Looking is not enough; check at several points. A scaffold erected out of plumb keeps leaning under load.
03Braces
This is the part most often missing. The brace is what turns a box into a triangulated frame; remove it and the system cannot carry lateral load. "It was in the way, so we took it off" is a sentence heard often on site, and a dangerous one.
04Ties
How many points is the scaffold tied to the structure? Tie spacing follows the design, not judgement by eye. A facade scaffold is not a free-standing structure; its resistance to overturning comes from those ties.
05Platforms
Are there gaps in the decking? A lift that is not fully boarded is a fall point. Platforms should also be secured so they cannot lift or shift.
06Guardrails and toe boards
Main guardrail, intermediate guardrail and toe board: all three are needed. The toe board is the one usually forgotten, and it is what stops a dropped hand tool.
07Access
How do people get up? If they climb the braces, the scaffold was not finished. A stair tower or internal ladder access should be there.
08Load class
What class was this scaffold built to, and what will be put on it? Stacking material on a scaffold erected for access is the most common overloading mistake on site.
09The tag
Who erected the scaffold, when, and who inspected it should be written on a tag. No tag means the person taking delivery does not know what they are taking delivery of.
10Who may alter it
After handover, who is allowed to touch the scaffold? The answer should be "only the crew that erected it". When a component is removed and not put back, nobody notices until the load arrives.
All of this is the subject of the TS EN 12811 and TS EN 12810 series. Both our flanged and H-frame systems are produced to those standards in S355JR steel, with platform deflection tested at 2.5 m span under 100 kg. But material built to standard is no substitute for erection to standard; this list exists to close exactly that gap.
If your crew needs training on erection and inspection, write to us.