Improper Scaffold Construction
As you learned earlier, scaffold workers attribute most accidents to weak or defective planking and platforms, a lack of guardrails, and a lack of fall arrest systems. Here are more examples of what can happen when these safety precautions are not taken.
Examples of Potential Scaffold Accidents
Fall from bracket scaffold: A construction worker was working on a carpenters' wall bracket scaffold without fall protection.
The worker fell 19 feet to the ground, sustained blunt trauma to the head, and later died.
Recommendations: The construction worker should have either been wearing a personal fall arrest system or guardrails should have been attached to the scaffolding. Was the scaffolding assembled properly and inspected by a competent person?
Fall from tubular welded- frame scaffold: A worker preparing masonry fascia for removal from a building fell from the third level of a tubular welded-frame scaffold. No guarding system was provided for the scaffold. Further, the platform was coated with ice, creating a slippery condition.
Recommendations: Again, either guardrails should have been attached to the scaffolding or the worker should have used a personal fall arrest system. Ice must always be cleared away from scaffolding to prevent slippery conditions.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-6. One of the most common causes for scaffold accidents is attributed to _____.
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