Posted By Mark Elliott
Please can anyone advise
I am looking for a scaffold inspectors course or similar, CITB have a two day course, has anyone been on this and can they give feedback, or does anyone have details of other training providers offering similar.

Many Thanks
Mark

Posted By Lee Mac
I was on a one day scaffolding for supervisors course with the CITB- the course covered the basics, how to build, how not to build, what to look out for etc.etc.

One negative was the lack of handouts.


Lee

Posted By db
Be careful with these courses with the CITB - the one day course is an informative basic scaffold awareness course and does not (in the words of the CITB) train people to be competent to inspect scaffolding. The scaffolding inspection course is a 2 day course and this is what the HSE ask for (or equivalent with other providers, some of which are not 2 days but read the small print and ensure they are for inspection)

Posted By Garry Adams
To the forum,

Do members of the Scaffolding fraternaty agree that a 2 day Scaffolding Inspection course is sufficient ??? to Commission Scaffolding Structures...

Posted By db
The 2 day course is not for commissioning but for inspecting - it does what it says on the tin. It is for just the type of thing suggested - is it up to standard. Are there toe boards, guard rails, is there a single where there should be a double etc.

However, I've rarely come across anyone who does the inspections as they should be done - but I'm sure that would be the same if you insisted everyone should be scaffold trained which is of course impossible anyway. In the same way we dont expect an flt driver to be a mechanic

Posted By FJ
I've "sent" people on the CITB course a number of times and got positive feedback from it. I've also used "Safety & Access" near Nottingham- similar course, similar costs, similar comments

Posted By Garry Adams
F.A.O. Chris Ball,

Thanks for your comments,I agree that a more indepth course would be an advantage, indeed it would enhance the Scaffolding Industry.

It would be interesting to revamp the Inspection Course...what input would you include...

Regards, Garry...

Posted By ddraigice
The issue here, reading between the lines is one of fear of being picked up by a non scaffolder over "silly" defects such as no toe boards.

To suggest that all inspections should be done by trained scaffolders is over the top. The accident history is predominantly from the scaffolders not erecting the thing properly in the first place or not tying in.

So Garry, what do you suggest? That all site managers or other employee of a company undergo basic scaffolding training? Would this pick up the faults already built in?

The problem with having the scaffolding company do the inspections are many - including the fact that they will not do it every day before work starts or every week without fail. They are also not likely to see defects that may have been built in by themselves.

HSE advocates this type of 2 day training as a minimum. Perhaps what the course should do is to ensure that the scaffold inspector knows his limits and can tell if there is a structural problem that needs a scaffolder - and it should already be company policy that if scaffold is up for a certain time period or after it has been subjected to adverse weather etc., it should be checked by a competent scaffolder.

The inspectors course is there for the "silly stuff" like single guard rails, toe boards etc which do cause many more accidents when they are missing and can land the contractor in hot water if they havent been picked up in an inspection.

These are exactly the things the inspection should be picking up - there is a requirement for these under WAH regs and are far from "silly". The stress values and torque settings and the like are for the scaffolders and not what is intended for day to day inspection.

Posted By Garry Adams
Hi ddraigice,

The issue is ...never rub an other mans rubbarb...I be in touch soon. Garry...

Posted By Garry Adams
F.A.O. db dd,

db,
36 years before the mast gives me the Authority on the Legal aspects.

Howmany years have you done ?.

dd,
What is your disapline ?

Garry...

Posted By John A Wright
Let's check the title of the thread again: Scaffold Inspection Courses. I read that as courses for safety consultants or safety reps to effectively and independently do the weekly scaffold inspections on building sites.

It's what the industry needs and CDM 2007 requires : somebody competent to do the inspection. Ignoring or not complying with the 'silly stuff' (read: the basic important stuff) is a major cause of accidents on building sites, and independent weekly inspections can save lives.

Not much wrong with a safety consultant acting as the safety rep for a small builder who might not trust scaffolders to do their own inspections. The basic things can be learned in a couple of days and experience is rapid after a few inspections conducted and consulting with the scaffolders.

Chris mentioned surprise that "debris netting has to be fixed to the external plain of the scaffold". Well, there are situations where I would demand that: if inspections indicated that debris IS LANDING on the ground outside of the scaffold coverage then it's clearly a good idea to fix netting, particularly where there's footpaths nearby, vehicles parked nearby, roads nearby etc etc

John W