OSH expects scaffold safety improvements in follow-up visits

Monday 29 November 2004

Preventing the tragedy of death and injury on Canterbury and West Coast construction sites is the purpose of a follow-up scaffolding inspection programme in the region this week.

Five inspectors from the Department of Labour's occupational safety and health service will be visiting around 15 scaffolding companies in Christchurch, Timaru and the West Coast this week, to check on progress since the last inspection programme eight months ago.

The results of the last round of inspections was generally disappointing, said OSH service manager for Canterbury Margaret Radford, but hopes were higher that companies had taken on board safety messages and that inspectors would notice an improvement in safety standards.

Ms Radford said the last programme highlighted a disturbing lack of basic safety procedures on site. 'Our inspectors were looking to see that the very basic safety measures were being complied with, and sadly only a few of the companies visited came close to the basic safety measures. The rest were carrying out a variety of unsafe procedures, and there was quite a bit of inconsistency between companies and even among the crews of a single company.

'What we're hoping to see this time around is these basic safety measures addressed, plus a more consistent approach to safety standards across the industry.'

Ms Radford said safety standards in the scaffolding industry had slipped in recent years because of the construction boom. With a shortage of scaffolding, pressure was on companies to get the equipment up and down quickly before moving on to the next job.

'This decline in safety standards means many companies are currently well below meeting minimum standards, let alone the industry-set best practice standards. That has got to improve.

The construction boom in Canterbury was showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, she said, with another three scaffolding companies formed locally in the past six months.

The most common faults uncovered during the last inspections were guardrails and boards missing from scaffolds, scaffolds erected too far away from structures, and inadequate bracing - all of which were potential recipes for disaster.

Ms Radford said OSH hoped to see sound structures erected, 'because if these systemic things aren't done right, then the consequences can be catastrophic, not just for workers but for passersby as well. The lost productivity from accidents in our region affects all of us and any loss of skilled staff is especially critical during boom times.'

The inspections are part of OSH's commitment to helping employers and workers help themselves. 'We're here to help make workplaces as safe as possible, but at the end of the day the people who make safety and health happen at work every day are the suppliers of the equipment, the employers and their workers.'

So far this year, 41 scaffolding accidents have been reported to OSH Canterbury-West Coast, compared with 26 in 2003 and six in 2002.