Blog

Guide to Erecting a Scaffold Tower Safely A scaffold tower arrives as a stack of frames, braces and planks, and the order they go together is what decides whether it stands. Crews that build towers every week do it the same way every time for a reason: the sequence is the safety system, and skipping a step is how a tower that looks right comes down. Start at the Base and Stay on It The base is built flat and level before anything goes up. Base plates on every leg, sills under the plates on anyt …

Guide to Scaffold Load Ratings and Capacity Limits A scaffold is rated for a load, and the rating is not the same as the weight of the crew. Planks, tools, material and the workers all count against the same number, and a bay that held four men yesterday is a different proposition with a pallet of block on the deck. Getting this right is the difference between a working platform and an overloaded one. The Three Duty Classes Scaffolds are built and rated in three working classes: light duty at 2 …

Guide to Scaffold Wind Ratings and Securing an Open Site A scaffold that carries everything you put on it can still go over in an afternoon. Wind acts on the whole face of the structure - frames, planks, guard rails, netting and signage - and on an open site or a parking structure that face area adds up fast. DFW gets storms that arrive with little warning, and the difference between a scaffold that survives one and a scaffold on its side is preparation that happened before the forecast. Wind I …

Guide to Scaffold Stair Towers for Upper Level Access Most crews access a scaffold the way they always have, which means climbing the frames or leaning a ladder against the outside. That works for a one-lift job and it stops working the moment the scaffold gets tall, the crew gets large, or anyone has to carry something up. A stair tower is the piece of the system that decides how a job actually flows, and it is usually an afterthought in the quote. What a Stair Tower Is A stair tower is a scaf …

Guide to Inspecting Scaffold Planks and Walkboards The frames are the visible part of a scaffold and the planks are the part the crew actually stands on. Wood planks absorb the beating of every load, every set of boots, and every weather cycle on a Texas site, and a plank that has been in service for two years on a job in the sun looks fine from ten feet away and is not. Inspecting planks is a five-minute job that belongs on the same schedule as the frame inspection. What to Look For Start with …