Posted By Bill Fisher Alan Forget about "NEBOSH" and "legal qualification"! To undertake an inspection of scaffolding (or excavations etc) think "Competence". And as we know competence is about relevant traning and experience. So in answer to your question the manager is not competent to undertake the inspection having gained the Nebosh certificate. He needs to do something like CITB Scaffold Inspection or similar course and develop his skills with the help of thescaffolders on Site. Regards Bill

Posted By Clark Surly that would be dependant on the experience. I would be concerned that old habits have been reinforced and that without documentary evidence of specific training / assessment (as suggested above) that the company would be unable to support its claim that the person is competent.

Posted By Antony McManus An 'advanced' scaffolder is deemed competent to carry out inspections.

Posted By ian mcnally Alan an interesting question! The chances are you may well be competent but it may be worth considering a few other issues before reaching your conclusion as even experienced people forgot things move on and its important to keep up to date. An example could be assuming a basic scaffolder with 20 years experience to be competent to inspect a system scaffold but on delving deeper it turns out that they had never erected a system scaffold before? Would they know its load bearing capabilities or how high it could be erected in a certain configuration or tie pattern or restrictions if under sheeting? I would suggest that anyone who is required to inspect would need to firstly have theoretical knowledge of the type of scaffold in question – There are numerous different types of system scaffolds alone not to mention putlog or independent tube and fitting. Good practical knowledge and experience on all of these may be a lot to ask and did not to my knowledge form part of the Nebosh General Certificate. The inspector should be aware that the old BS 5973 was replaced last June by the BS EN12811 and that NASC produced a new guidance in Jan 2005 called TG:20. When you look at the sort of detail in this guidance it requires a good deal to consider. I haven’t mentioned wind factors – platform loadings – or conformance with material standards. If the answer is yes to the relevant parts of the above then I suspect the individual would certainly be competent. But remember, the WAHR does require calculations for scaffolding outside of the; 6m high unclad standard house building scaffolds unless it is assembled in conformity with a generally recognised standard configuration. I would suggest few site managers have had a full update on the significant changes brought about by the new EN. There are a number of good scaffold appreciation course that cover the above and I would be happy to provide this information should anyone require it. Hope this may be of some help Ian

Posted By ian mcnally Thought I had better stress for the benefit of anyone that may be new to safety that British Standards or BSEN are not to be confused with Regulations since they are not statue. BS 5973 has been withdrawn and although I have heard a rumour that it may be updated, at the moment it has not and to my knowledge the only practical and technical guidance for tube and fitting scaffold by the NASC is TG20. I have also heard a rumour suggesting the HSE will accept this guidance. It would be interesting to hear views from any HSE inspectors that may be reading this. I was inspecting a scaffold on site this morning and had a conversation with an advanced scaffolder who was unaware of TG20 and couldn’t accept the 4 + 3 inner boarded scaffold being erected did not comply with current guidance without calculations. I would add that whilst it looked ok, I still wanted evidence to demonstrate it could withstand the loadings written on the handover certificate. Think I will be in for a bit of a wait while they try and find an engineer to prove the calcs. Its all good stuff this forum! Ian

Posted By ian mcnally Hi John, You’re spot on with the loading bay problem. I’m quite proactive in the construction safety field and have been doing a bit of lecturing at the Construction Health and Safety Group Chertsey on scaffolding and a few other subjects for a few years, it’s possible you might have seen my name there or, if you ever surf the IOSH web on; http://ioshsouthdowns.co.uk/ I have been very active with the South Downs Branch of IOSH which is also close to where I live. (the area extends from M25 J6 down the M23 to the coast at Brighton and a number of miles East and West of it, anyone who may be interested in coming along would be most welcome. Interestingly enough, the principle HSE inspector from East Grinstead David Rothery, will be attending our specialist construction group meeting/forum at Shoreham airport on 15th this month. Sorry couldn’t resist the opportunity to plug the event. I know I will be asking a few questions at the Q & A session, if you or any other reader is interested you would also be most welcome but please let me know so I can arrange enough tea / coffee, we do often have a curry and a pint afterwards too! As you probably guessed I have read SG4:05 and am interested to see the advanced guardrail system in it, although this looks good in pictures, I haven’t yet seen it in use on any sites and have asked dozens of scaffold course attendees if they have. So far nobody has seen this system in use although it was thought to be in use at T5. The NASC are working on producing a précised version of SG4:05 with the intention of making these available for scaffolders. I understand it will be an A5 size booklet like the old SG4:00 so probably worth getting a copy when available. Perhaps I’ll see you or other readers who can make the Shoreham airport venue on the 15th November. Regards Ian

Posted By Alan james Thanks for the help guys, have just sorted out a course which will enable me carry out inspections, i also apologise to you John for the earlier remarks Thanks