Ten tips for buying scaffolding

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Combisafe technical director Tony Jenkins.

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Cape Technical Manager Dennis Braithwaite.

Industry experts give their top tips for buying scaffolding to ensure that you get the right equipment for the job, tick all the safety boxes and don't get any nasty surprises.

Stick to the standards

Rule number one is to find out what international scaffolding standard is used in your region and stick to it. There are various standards available around the world and they have all been developed with good reason says Dennis Braithwaite technical manager for scaffolding service provider, Cape.

"Many of the standards are similar, but each one sets down the specific requirements for individual components, such as couplers, tube, boards and a specification for system scaffolding" he says.

"We insist that all scaffold material is purchased to the specified standards and supplied with appropriate certification."

While most of the reputable companies will already be adhering to recognised standards, Braithwaite says unspecified materials are still commonly used without consideration of the consequences.

"I've been on a site where the scaffolding tube had a strange standard number on it and we later found out that the specification was for water pipes and didn't have any load bearing capacity at all."

Don't be tempted by the fakes

If you're thinking about ordering some fake copies of a reputable scaffolding brand from a Chinese manufacturer, then prepare to be disappointed according to Combisafe technical director Tony Jenkins.

"There are copies all over the place. A lot of people will buy stuff from you and ship it over to China for copies to be made hoping it turns up correctly, but half the time it doesn't because there is no quality control," he says.

"The brand Coplock has pressed steel ends on the horizontal members and I've seen them replaced by steel castings which are very brittle. So the strength characteristics are nothing like the parent product, even though it looks the same."

Jenkins recommends you buy from a company that can guarantee the safety of its products and then you are more likely to receive additional benefits, such as long term technical support, product warranty insurance and professional indemnity insurance.

Go high tech

It's important for customers to realise that the best scaffolding systems are no longer a simple commodity, but rather a highly developed technical product, according to Meva Solutions scaffolding firm marketing manager Jens Lützow-Rodenwoldt.

The best scaffolding may appear simple, but its integration into the construction system as a whole is not - the advantages are often hidden, but huge, he says.

"Many contractors may spend a fortune on equipment needed to erect the building, but then try and save on the scaffolding, which makes little sense," he adds.

"The money purportedly saved will generally be lost during time-consuming assembly and unnecessary on-site adaptations because the scaffolding doesn't fit. If a scaffold doesn't adapt to the circumstance, worker status, space requirements or stability demands, then it's too expensive to fiddle around with.

"Choose the best and only the best for the job because the site will say thanks and budgeting will hug you for it."

Assess the accessibility

One aspect that is often overlooked when purchasing scaffolding is vertical access requirements, says Jenkins. It's well known that ladders are the most dangerous piece of equipment on any site yet they are still commonly used in scaffolding set-ups.

"When you put ladders up through the scaffolding you're leaving huge holes for people to accidently fall down," explains Jenkins.

"In other cases the scaffolding itself is the only way to climb up. You can eliminate this safety hazard by choosing a scaffold that provides stairway access.

"We do a lightweight aluminium stairway that just drops in external to the scaffold so that the main walk-through of the scaffold is completely clear."

Ensure traceability

In the event of a problem with a scaffolding component, you must have traceability according to Braithwaite. As such, each item needs to have markings that indicate when and where it was manufactured.

"If you have a failure in five years time, you want to know it is from a particular batch that you bought five years ago," he says.

"We once had a problem with couplers and the manufacturer tracked it down to a particular problem with a particular batch.

"We had thousands of these couplers spread to the four corners of the earth, but because we had the traceability it was fairly easy to locate and quarantine them before it became a problem."

Suss out the supplier

There are as many scaffolding suppliers in the world as there are stars in the sky and on the surface it can appear that they're all offering similar services, but Lützow-Rodenwoldt says it pays to do a little research into their knowledge and experience before you commit.

"Many of these guys may never have seen their scaffold in an assembled condition, let alone have any on-site," he says.

"This may seem economical when purchasing or renting, but when the going gets rough and you need some expert advice, a commodity merchant won't have any know-how to offer. He can't afford to.

"So check the references before choosing a supplier; the better his experience, the bigger your advantage - something most purchasers and planners only realise when it's too late.

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