Gap in Scaffold

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tonyevs

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Hi All
Can anyone tell me the maximum gap that i can have between the standard and a wall that is being plastered.Tradesmen ask me for 15 inches but the HSE want less but they will not give me a distance to work to.
Is there a legal distance?
 
tonyevs said:
hi all
can anyone tell me the maximum gap that i can have between the standard and a wall that is being plastered.tradesmen ask me for 15 inches but the hse want less but they will not give me a distance to work to.
Is there a legal distance?
Click to expand...

225mm
 
No legal guidance given in TG20 or anywhere else. TG20 states maximum 50mm gap in boards but this is taken as gap between boards not between board & wall.

Good practice is close any gap thru which anything can fall - I.E. legs / people. But as usual the HSE will take the approach what does your risk assessment state?? If bricklaying then it is reasonably foreseeable a brick would get dropped so make the gap smaller than a brick.

Might want to spell out to the plasterer he can have this gap but he would have to work behind a guardrail and toeboard or possibly even be clipped on at all times - that'll make him change his mind.
 
I was going to say some thing IDH beat me to it and said it better anyway,basically if there's a risk then apply control measures ,handrails ,harnesses etc
 
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Thanks for that.I was sort of working to that but not good enough for the hse.I have decided to use an inside board and if the plasterer has to move the board back then so be it.Once again Thanks
 
Max gap permissible is 225mm, but the client would have to do a risk assessment to control against falling materials or possible injuries to persons working on the scaffold (scaff to advise on handover).

If your doing it close and the renderer is to remove a board then this usually also goes as a safe system of work as no one other than a competent scaffolder should be removing the board.

I think!
 
Any gap that tools or materials can fall through is too large. Get them to send you an email or put in writing the gap they require and once handed over advise on the handover cert that they should take the appropriate measures to control the risk they have asked for.
 
Rule of thumb, if a bulimic Somalian refugee can fall through the gap, you're too far from the wall. :noworry:
 
We. Dont normally go more than 1brd...tried it once bit SSO started ranting aboit duty of care/ risk assesment ...&;as no-one would pay for the other brd & tranny removal+ internal handrail...we just left it with 1....as i left looking @the render aving a go at the SSO. cos i told him that they had said to make it as awkward as i could for the renderers.and as i like to please thats wot i'm doin.lolopml
 
225mm any more must be protected or safe system of work
 
We get this all the time and to be honest, I get fed up with the numerous ideas the so called inspectors believe is right and wrong. Can we agree, it must be individually assessed depending on what material is likely to fall off and who it is likely to harm?
 
aom said:
We get this all the time and to be honest, I get fed up with the numerous ideas the so called inspectors believe is right and wrong. Can we agree, it must be individually assessed depending on what material is likely to fall off and who it is likely to harm?
Click to expand...

Or perhaps a more prescriptive approach (hard and fast rules) might do it ,such as the gap will not be more than 150mm for example.
Then it would stop numerous ideas and opinions about what is good or bad .
 
True, but so would really educating half wit 2 day men making it up as they went along. I had one the other day asking me to change all the sole pads as he reckoned they should be a minimum of 750 long. I had to explain to him the difference between minimum length and surface area, he left a bit sheepishly. To be honest, the more experienced inspectors, especially those with real power do have a set maximum in their heads, they just sometimes ask the question so as long as you can justify it in your paper work all is well. 150mm would probably be deemed to big on lot's of jobs.
 
As close is as reasonably practicable , that's the hse catch all.
 
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