Rank: Forum user 
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I was having a debate with a colleague whose view was that unless you have worked in the construction field, a safety practitioner is not competent so say whether or not a scaffold was unsafe.
The person has a Nebosh Construction certificate and some other works certificate which I cannot remeber the name of.
I would be interested in members views.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I have never worked in construction so I would be very unwilling to say if a scaffolding was safe , Nebosh Diploma or CMIOSH notwithstanding. Nevertheless I would be willing to suggest if scaffolding was UNSAFE and leave it to the contractor to prove to my liking that that thing was ok...
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Rank: Super forum user
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steveeckersley wrote:I was having a debate with a colleague whose view was that unless you have worked in the construction field, a safety practitioner is not competent so say whether or not a scaffold was unsafe.
The person has a Nebosh Construction certificate and some other works certificate which I cannot remeber the name of.
I would be interested in members views. Disagree. I've never worked in any of the fields of work that I advise on but that doesn't mean I'm not competent to understand the legislation, the standards and the best practice. Combination of formal training and hands on experience over many years. Perhaps the person in question would like to challenge the next HSE inspector that states that a scaffold is unsafe - guaranteed the HSE inspector has never worked on a construction site either!
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Rank: Super forum user
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A Kurdziel wrote:I have never worked in construction so I would be very unwilling to say if a scaffolding was safe , Nebosh Diploma or CMIOSH notwithstanding. Nevertheless I would be willing to suggest if scaffolding was UNSAFE and leave it to the contractor to prove to my liking that that thing was ok... I worked in construction from 1976 - 2004 but i would be unwilling to say if a tube and clip scaffolding was safe, as i have had no formal training. I too could have suggested scaffolding was unsafe had i seen gaps in the boards, a main guard rail around the knee level instead of the hip etc but wouldn't feel for one minute competent to sign off a tube and clip scaffolding.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I agree with frankc, the person who is competent to say the scaffolding is safe is the person/company who erected it - after they have provided the handover certificate. Unless you have the requisite scaffolding qualification equal to or better than the scaffolding contractor all the qualifications in the world count for nothing.
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Rank: New forum user
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Rank: Forum user
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I suppose the question I am posing is around Occupational competency.
The same person suggests that at our new energy centre I would miss H&S issues because Im not Gas management trained. So the question is why are we here- Its because the said same people who are Occupationally qualified eg Pasma cut corners and make mistakes! You only have to look at the breaches and prosecutions on the HSE site to see how many Scaffolding companies have been prosecuted! SO who does know best about whether a scaffold is safe?
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Rank: Super forum user
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Steve, you are so right about (many) scaffolders. I am not a scaffolder but I do inspections and I have never found a perfectly erected/managed scaffold. I do initial inspections WITH the scaffolder, then weekly ones myself but bring him in if new sections are added. I admit to having a lengthy checklist to tick, he's with me initially to ensure the basic construction is correct, position of joints, ties etc. The things they miss are the things I get, like height of top-rail (my hip bone is 950mm, but I can tell by looking if it's not 950mm, also I tend to hold on to a toprail :o) and my hand soon says it's wrong). Missing brick-guards is a common error, gaps in boards, ladder not tied, missing toeboards, missing netting, oh and missing permit from the local authority to erect on a pavement - the blindingly obvious things are what they miss. I might not be a scaffolder but surely my input ensures a safer scaffold??
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Rank: Super forum user 
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I suggest that practitioners from many fields would most likely be able to spot common faults with scaffold assemblies - even if they didn't know a putlog from a reveal.
The real issue for your friend is about competency to accept a scaffold at handover, or signing off a weekly inspection and that (IMHO) means gaining specific and specialist knowledge (usually involving formal training) over and above any H&S quals.
Sadly, many out there are put in the unfortunate position of having to accept a scaffold at handover without sufficient knowledge.
Incidentally, scaffold is widely used outwith traditional "construction"; civil engineering and entertainment industry for example.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Steveeckersley wrote:I suppose the question I am posing is around Occupational competency.
The same person suggests that at our new energy centre I would miss H&S issues because Im not Gas management trained. So the question is why are we here- Its because the said same people who are Occupationally qualified eg Pasma cut corners and make mistakes! You only have to look at the breaches and prosecutions on the HSE site to see how many Scaffolding companies have been prosecuted! SO who does know best about whether a scaffold is safe? I replied on the grounds of occupational competency, Steve. As a PASMA instructor, i would quite happily inspect then put my signature to a mobile tower as being safe. I have had no formal training on tube and clip scaffolding and as said earlier, can spot things that are obviously wrong. Maybe it's just a case of knowing your own limitations.
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Rank: Forum user
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Hello
Most safety advisers haven't the knowledge or experience to properly condemn a scaffold as unsafe but that's understandable as most may come from different fields etc. However to overcome this setback they can attend a scaffold inspection course either a at basic or advanced level to give them some degree of competency as there's nothing worse than someone trying to tell you your scaffold in unsafe who have no experience etc unless it is a valid safety point. I myself speak from experience from being an ex-scaffolder ,ok they are some cowboys out there but the majority erect safe secure scaffolds to industry standards. A safety advisor with little or no experience should take a more robust approach on gaining knowledge is to go and speak to the scaffolders themselves on the correct methods procedures on erecting and dismantling scaffolds rather then from just reading info from a pamphlet.
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Rank: Super forum user
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I know nothing about checking scaffolding other than what commonsense would reveal to me, nor would I consider myself competent to check scaffolding. However, I would consider myself perfectly competent to conduct a risk assessment on a construction site in my particular area of expertise. Indeed, I have done so on sites, sometimes at the request of a (qualified) health and safety practitioner who has recognised that his expertise in my particular field is not sufficient. This has often revealed significant shortcomings that the practitioner had not identified. I do not need to be an expert in construction to be able to do this, but to have an in-depth knowledge in my particular field that I can apply to a wide range of different industries and thus to be able to identify where risks to health exist due to skin exposure to the working environment.
Chris
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