Handrails!

all hail oracle Garry!

mate you are a legend!

it seems that you have more of a grip on scaffolding than the HSE and NASC. i for one would be privilidged to work under your supervision!
 
Tom

I cannot take any credit for my knowledge of the Scaffolding Industry---it was passed down to me by real Ledgends of the Game---I was very luck to have Mentors that took time out to explain the esoteric way of the Scaffold Erector---that is the problem today there are little or no Coaches or Mentors willing to learn the young blood...CITB Training is no substitute for Practical experiance...bring back the indentured apprentice :cool:
 
I agree, scaffs now tell their labourers when they start on the spanners 'put that there" when the lab replies 'why?' usual replies i have heard are 'cos i fuc@in told you too!':sad:
 
Tom
Doubles or Band & Plate it is, there is a toolbox talk on NASC website for details.

Regards Tufty
 
I was always told 30lbs of torque on a double , I know it sounds old school but this is the same amount applied to a cars wheel . At the end of the day stitch up the fitting and give it a couple of extra wraps for good measure . As for ratchets some of them are almost a foot long no wonder they over torque . Cheers .
 
TomP said:
I agree, scaffs now tell their labourers when they start on the spanners 'put that there" when the lab replies 'why?' usual replies i have heard are 'cos i fuc@in told you too!':sad:
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Thats coz they uasualy dont know the reason there doing it themselves
 
was told once that a scaffold spanner handle was 9" so you can get 50lbs of torque applied to the fitting. noticed a few spanners now and the handles are less than 9".

have any of you lads heard of this?
 
ha ha! Well you cant blame the scaffolders apparentley we're just joiners with our heads kicked in! or so im told by my brother in law (structural engineer in training!):nuts:
 
oh yes you should always use doubles mate............

---------- Post added at 08:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:37 PM ----------

oh yes double couplers everytime
 
Garry agree with apprenticeship training you would prefer

record of my training

Mills started all lads with no experience in the yard,after three or four weeks of loading unloading wagons and getting to know your way around the differant kit you would be sent out with an established gang

chargehand,spanner man,labourer plus yourself.You were not charged to the gangs price so they had an extra man on the team you wre rotated around the top gangs for about 3 month.If you were any good at grafting all the gangs wanted you with them.If you was a toss pot you would be sent back to the yard after two or three chargehands said you were ***** you would be sacked

When it was heavy on the carrying or a rope and wheel job you would assist the labourer at other times you would be told by the charge hand to get your arse up here and learn something you thick sod

It took me 6 month to get spanner man rate a further 18 month to become a chargehand and three years later I was a forman one of six of a workforce of around 120 men

I was lucky to work with the great scaffolders of the day and still repect them to this day ther were some great charactors amongst them The diversity of work that Mills contracted for ment that I obtained experience of scaffold works in all its differant forms and site locations

I have loved the job all my working life,and though I have at differant times been a supervisor,contractacts manager,and ran my own limited company for a number of years.There is nothing like looking at a scaffold you have erected and thinking now thats what I call a decent job

Good luck to you young fellas the state the Industries in it looks like the whip will be on your back for a while longer but it will turn around again at some point then the powers that be will be moaning that there is a shortage of skilled scaffolders when you lot have fecked off abroad to make a living
 
rigger that is spot on my friend although you been scaffolding since 1964 and i was only born in 1975 , it sounds like we both did the old school route, i learnt more in 3 month than some people i have met have in a lifetime, i only passed a bad fitting up once, i only passed a bent 5ft up for leveling in once, i only stood and watch the scaffs erecting without first getting every bit of kit required ready for them once because you just didnt get second chance simple as that , the next bad fitting i passed up would be returned back down twice as fast twice as hard and aimed at you , as didthe nxt bent 5ft and standing doing nothing when work was to be done fcuk me just dont go there man. it did me no harm at all , there were very few accidents of any kind , good scaffs putting what felt like tonnes of scaffold up in a day everyday and job knock also meant we finished early everyday some brilliant characters about and yes lookin at a scaffold you erected and thinking now thats the mutts is called taking pride in your job which is something new school doesnt seem to teach yet old school somehow did
 
i once did a job with our foreman, id been labouring for around six months. We didnt say a word to each other i just got the gear and gave it to him as he needed it. i had to run to the wagon and back he was that quick!

Now a labourer stands there asks you what you want and when you tell him, they simply relpy WHY? COS IT YOU EFFING JOB YOU LITTLE SCROTE!!!!!!!!!!!
 
The labourers nowadays are a different breed,many have no appitite for hard work,life is to easy for them with loans and tic available everywhere,they dont think they have to graft,most of them just fancy the job because of its reputation,nowt worse than a snotty nosed herbert with a set of new elsies slung over his shoulder,stood in the boozer on a friday,bring back the birch..lol
 
Well said Rigger

My sentiments exactly---moreover, with the onset and utilisation of the many different Types of Prefabricated System Scaffolds, do you think that the esoteric teachings of Special Scaffold Structures in Traditional Tube and Couplers is becoming a lost Specialisim ???---is the Young Blood missing out on T&B Structures ???

Garry...
 
I agree with most on this thread, however not all the young guns are lazy slackers. The two with me at the moment are keen as mustard, shift gear all day for fun and just desperate for a go on the spanners. They have been here for a couple of years now so it's no flash in the pan, although if you were to ask them I bet they would tell you I was old school and too hard on them but the truth is they don't know their living. I used to be very tough on some of the young guys and let a few good ones slip through my fingers as a result. It was old Forbes Fergusson at Hillington (CITB) that changed my thinking, when I was telling him the regime I was operating and the high turn over of bodies he told me to send the boy's to him and he would send back a good scaff. To be honest it hasn't really worked that well as the training seem's very light and they alway's come back with little or no extra knowledge but they do come back with a little more confidence and that seems to push them on a little. I wouldn't blame the young team I would blame the training providers. It was actually the Mrs that had a thought in this regard, she felt that it would be a good idea for the trainee's to spend some time with another firm at some point during their training to gain another perspective which I felt was a great idea, as all they really know is whatever I tell them.

As for the handrail, I have to admit to putting singles on a stop end.:embarrest: I know, it's just lazy but if you look at the tg20 guide front cover the illistration is using singles. I'm not making excuses but you can't be good at everything.:D
 
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There are some good "kids" out there, some don't ask what time bait is as soon as they get on the job..... some aren't looking for a flyer everyday, some will go none stop and some are actually interested in the whys and what fors of a job. I agree with most comments on here, but it's too easy to generalise where young lads are concerned.....I never agreed with some top hand throwing fittings etc. at young lads in the name of "education".
 
TomP said:
I prefer it! But then again there are lots of things i prefer but the other lads think are fine, you know just little things like - i do a two metre bay and the other lads do a 4m bay!
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A 4m bay? haha, does your hard hat roll off when you stand in the middle of it, BOIIIIIIIIIING lol

---------- Post added at 08:05 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:59 PM ----------
James..Redcar said:
So Gary, how tight?? A 16st bloke with massive forearms can wrap a double tighter than a 10 stone mr. muscle type fella. So would it be correct to wrap a fitting til tight, then a extra quarter turn. Its funny that we just wrap fittings like second nature, but don't really give a thought for, correct amount of torque..
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I think you're wrong there mate, I can't see how there would be any difference, I have seen young uns messing around with the ratchet tightening and tightening barneys until they start bleeding lol
 
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