What is a tower scaffold?
Tower scaffolds are used for more heavy duty work which ladders are not enough for. Ladders not only cannot reach that high, they also cannot hold heavy equipment or a large amount of weight. Tower scaffolding is used for jobs such as fitting high ceilings which ladders are incapable of doing.
Unlike a normal ladder, a tower scaffold has four legs which gives it much more stability and allows workers to use both hands to work with and are much less likely to lose their balance than a standard ladder. Although tower scaffolds can reach higher levels than a standard ladder this means a lot more injuries occur as people fall from higher distances.
Because of this danger, guard rails are installed on the top of tower scaffold to ensure safety and stability of the workers. To provide even further support tower scaffold has beams which help to strengthen the scaffold especially in crucial outdoor weathers like storms and strong winds, causing the scaffold to shake and become more unstable. To learn more Lakeside Hire offers more information about tower scaffolds.
How to build a tower scaffold
Tower scaffold is much more complex to put together than a standard ladder as they are much higher there are much more safety precautions to make sure of whilst putting it together. One of the first and most important precautions to make sure of is that that surface is stable which it stands on.
Because this scaffold is so high it is crucial it stands on a stable and balanced ground to prevent any accidents when climbing up, like the scaffold falling over. When putting up the tower scaffold a guard rail needs to gradually be moved up each time a new level is constructed to ensure safety and ensure the scaffold does not fall on workers below whilst constructing the scaffold.
Next is the through the trap method which is when new levels are constructed through a trap door to ensure maximum safety of workers when building the tower scaffold.
How to safely use a tower scaffold
In order to climb up a scaffold tower, they have internal ladders for workers to reach the top safely and contain rungs on the outside which have a grip to them in order to provide extra stability.
However, climbing on the outside of scaffolding can be especially dangerous as it creates a greater risk of falling. It is important you should never use tower scaffolding to hold up other equipment such as ladders as this may affect the stability of the scaffold and cause danger.
You should always do regular maintenance checks on your tower scaffold to ensure nothing has broken, such as loose screws as this can be extremely dangerous if it is used whilst broken or missing parts. Another important thing to remember is that wheels should be securely locked on the scaffolding when climbing up it as it can cause instability and lead to an accident if the wheels are loose.
