Icarus
Member
- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 7
- Reaction score
- 0
Hi, I took on a job of painting a large domestic house and was promised a cherry picker to finish the high areas. Needless to say the picker never materialized and the punters provided a local builder to supply and erect a work platform.
He scaffolded off 3 areas with two 2x3 & one 3x3 units of scaffold at around 6 meters in height which are tied off by being roped to cast iron stacks or pipe, fixed in with 2” rusted screws, no doubt. There are no outriggers and the scaffold on the grass lack mudsills. The boards are not butted but overlap in the middle of the work area so that the elongated boards don’t overhang – Lovely little trip hazard. There is no guardrail on the wall facing side and a gap from the scaffold edge to wall of 400mm on each scaffold. These contraptions are 4 boards wide. Oh, the builder isn’t known to CISRS either.
Even at 6m I would have to use a 5m extension pole and roller, so all a bit of a nonsense in this day and age.
I have raised my concerns with the punters and requested a proper platform is erected under the supervision of a competent person or have sight of the current builder’s certs.
The builder feigned indignation but failed to provide any evidence of competency and these punters really just don’t ‘get things’. The builder has, not surprisingly, offered to get someone to do the work and will no doubt supply some poor halfwit who doesn’t appreciate the dangers. Whilst I will have the punter trying to bump me on their perception that I took on a job that I could not finish when in fact they supplied equipment that breaches Working at Height Regs 2005.
Of course I could just be being a big fairy and should consider abseiling down the building with paintbrush between my teeth every morning?
I’m in the far north of Scotland and may as well be in outer Mongola. The chance of a building inspector falling over this site is remote so I’m really wondering if I’m just being a moaning ninny or have a right to feel concerned?
Thanks for any thoughts, pointers, advice or help.
He scaffolded off 3 areas with two 2x3 & one 3x3 units of scaffold at around 6 meters in height which are tied off by being roped to cast iron stacks or pipe, fixed in with 2” rusted screws, no doubt. There are no outriggers and the scaffold on the grass lack mudsills. The boards are not butted but overlap in the middle of the work area so that the elongated boards don’t overhang – Lovely little trip hazard. There is no guardrail on the wall facing side and a gap from the scaffold edge to wall of 400mm on each scaffold. These contraptions are 4 boards wide. Oh, the builder isn’t known to CISRS either.
Even at 6m I would have to use a 5m extension pole and roller, so all a bit of a nonsense in this day and age.
I have raised my concerns with the punters and requested a proper platform is erected under the supervision of a competent person or have sight of the current builder’s certs.
The builder feigned indignation but failed to provide any evidence of competency and these punters really just don’t ‘get things’. The builder has, not surprisingly, offered to get someone to do the work and will no doubt supply some poor halfwit who doesn’t appreciate the dangers. Whilst I will have the punter trying to bump me on their perception that I took on a job that I could not finish when in fact they supplied equipment that breaches Working at Height Regs 2005.
Of course I could just be being a big fairy and should consider abseiling down the building with paintbrush between my teeth every morning?
I’m in the far north of Scotland and may as well be in outer Mongola. The chance of a building inspector falling over this site is remote so I’m really wondering if I’m just being a moaning ninny or have a right to feel concerned?
Thanks for any thoughts, pointers, advice or help.
