Dear Colleagues With the implementation of TG2008 on January 2011 i thought i would ask how safety managers and site managers are going to now cope with these requirements. The question of competency is the key factor here, I've spoken with the HSE on this matter and they were satisifed that if i get the scaffold at hand over inspected by an independent scaffold inspector with recommendations actioned by the scaffolder that it would it be ok for someone holding the basic scaffold inspection certificate to carryout the 7 day checks. Obviously if the scaffold is adapted, modified or should we have adverse weather the same process should be followed once more, I've no problem training my managers up to advanced status but my concern is placing managers in a position whereby they are out of their depth and obviously inconsistancy of inspections. For info a typical 30 min independent inspection costs around £200 this seems like money for old rope given how many they can do in a day. Surely a common sense approach can be adopted. What does everyone else think and does anyone know any in-house training providers?

Thanks Grim for sorting this out i've been reading some of the responses with interest. I thinks its a case of suck it and see with the changes, my site managers are vastly experienced but would only spend 1 hr max inspected the scaffold every 7 days even i would struggle to pick up on some design issues and calculations so i will see how it goes and look out for any HSE enforcement to other companies. I think there could be a danger of companies not inspecting at all now rather than say its safe when its not that way they would get hit by management failings and not incompetence of staff inspecting. If you look over the City and West End of London you can easily lose count the amount of scaffolds seen anyone looking to start a new business can't go wrong in setting up a scaffold inspection service.