Posted By Mick Yeomans I have asked a scaffold contractor for certification / records of inspection for a ginny wheel he intends to use on site. He has produced a certificate with his company name on stating that it has been subjected to a 55 kg test load and has a safe working load of 50kg. It has been signed by the Managing Director and states his qualification as SMSTS. I have rejected this for a number of reasons. Would be interested in any comments from the forum.

Posted By Howard As far as LOLER inspections go, this has to be one of the simplest. I dont see why an MD of a Scaffold company who has probably worked with them all his life may not be a fit person to inspect his Gin Wheels, which is hardly rocket science . What qualifications would make him suitable?? Speak to his insurance company & see if they are happy with the situation. Would it be more acceptable for the YTS bloke who may have done a half day Gin Wheel inspection course to sign off the test cert?? Seem to recall not too long ago a similar discussion regarding the relevance of qualifications for safety professionals with some stating that their experience was more relevant. Howard

Posted By Christopher Kelly Oh - by the way Howard. Be careful about speaking to insurance companies - they are only competent to give you advice about such matters if they have an engineering department providing competent lifting engineers (there are only about 4 of these in the UK). Many Liability Surveyors and Underwriters will tell you it is fine to do something (as far as they are concerned) this does not give you protection for breach of legislation - be careful about HSE Inspectors also - I worked for a company who were using an IBC stillage fixed to a wooden pallet, as a personnel cage. The inspector visited us and gave us advice about fitting an inward opening door to it. It clearly wasn't capable of having any modifications and was totally unsafe anyway. I told the MD and put it in writing to him on a number of occasions, also mentioning that the insurance company engineer would condemn it, so we didn't add it to the inspection schedule. The MD just laughed and refused to buy new cage, 6 months later an experienced fitter fell out of it and was seriously injured. The HSE Inspector mysteriously forgot his previous 'advice'. Even following prosecution and large fine I believe that they still haven't spent £400 on a personnel cage and the HSE have not followed it through, despite being made aware of it. Also - away from the competence issue, the MD is not 'free from fear or favour' as the competent person must be to comply with LOLER. Independence is a key element in Pressure Systems, LOLER and a couple of other bits of legislation where competent person inspections are required. Even a competent person who carries out maintenance activities at the same time as inspecting will have difficulty proving that they are independent. One thing to ponder - how many A defect emergency reports are issued to the HSE by people carrying out maintenance ?! Regards,