I have recently started a new job Scaffolding in London. I am little by little becoming better and better at my job and I have started as an apprentice.
There are a lot of companies offering construction services in London. They all charge different prices and I guess this is because some of them invest more in safety regulations than others.
Scaffolding in London shouldn’t be a dangerous job. But if you don’t take the adequate safety measures it can all result in accidents and even death.
Some companies do not have a safety supervisor to monitor the workers. The workforce are more concerned about finishing the job in time and leave their safety to fate. I have seen many workers on Scaffolding in London using pieces of wood to level the platforms. This is so risky that I can not believe how they do that. Most of the time they get away with it but what if the wood is rotten or the weight is too heavy and it collapses? I have seen many structures giving up and falling. But luckily the scaffold didn’t have more than 2 levels. Most workers do not thing they can get seriously injured fro falling from a second level. There is nothing more wrong than this. I have seen people breaking their spine discs just because they felt in the wrong positions. But I do not intend to blame the company that hires them for this. Sometimes are the same workers that are just used to work in these informal and unsafe conditions. How many scaffolders have you seen wearing a helmet? They should wear them at all time but yet they don’t. Another common mistake is using any piece of wood as platforms. The metal or wooden platforms are designed in a way that they fit perfectly into the frames. There should not be any area that is not completely cover by the piece. It is very common that these pieces fall from the scaffold and get broken. Companies don’t bother to replace them with proper platforms and they use any piece of wood they have in stock.
These pieces aren’t designed to resist heavy weight and they can cause really serious accidents. The fact that a piece of wood seems to be strong doesn’t mean is going to resist whatever weight you put on it.
Finally It is worth to mention that most scaffolders do not tie the structure to the building. They don’t consider it necessary because they say 2 levels is not high enough. The truth is that taking precautions is never done in vain. There is never enough safety measures to put in place.