Hire and Rental News - November 2018

43 ACCESS IN ACTION • NOVEMBER 2018 ACCESS IN ACTION BART10002_Debt_Collection_86_5x185.indd 1 12/4/18 9:04 pm Continued on p44... adopted WHS laws similar to those in the Eastern States. The relevant parts of WA’s Regulations and the Australian Standard are below: • scaffold means a temporary structure, stage or platform specifically erected to support access or working platforms, persons, plant or other material but does not include a gantry; • scaffolding equipment means any component, assembly or machine used or intended to be used in the construction of a scaffold; • 3.67. Scaffold etc. to be erected, designed etc. in accordance with standard; • A person who erects or dismantles a scaffold at a workplace must ensure the erection or dismantling, as the case may be, is done in accordance with the relevant requirements of AS/NZS 1576 Parts 1 to 6; • A person who designs, manufactures, imports or supplies scaffolding equipment for use at a workplace must ensure that it complies with the relevant requirements of AS/NZS 1576 Parts 1 to 6; • 3.72. Certain scaffolds to be inspected and tagged; • In this regulation — licenced person, in relation to a scaffold, means a person who holds a high risk work licence authorising the person to do scaffolding work involving that type of scaffold; • (1a) If, at a workplace, there is erected a scaffold from which a person or object could fall more than 4m, the person who is the main contractor and the person who caused the scaffold to be erected must ensure that the scaffold is inspected by a licenced person and tagged during the inspection in accordance with sub-regulation (2) – • before the scaffold is used; and • after the scaffold is altered or repaired; • at least every 30 days; • 4.35 (2) A person who supplies plant for use at a workplace by way of hiring or leasing the plant must ensure — • when the plant is supplied to a person the person is provided with all available, relevant safety and health information provided by the persons who designed or manufactured the plant, and any additional available information required to enable the plant to be used safely; and • the information referred to in paragraph (a) is in, or has been translated into, the English language before providing the information. Contact: caroline.devaney@dmirs.wa.gov.au or visit: www.dmirs.wa.gov.au SAFEWORK SA Michael McCabe, Senior Inspector, Construction Team, SafeWork SA said he does not see any major issues with the NSW statements as above and agrees SafeWork SA would regulate the use of trestle ladder scaffolds in a similar way. “The use of trestle scaffold is mainly only seen in domestic construction and the working deck is normally not higher than 2m. This under normal conditions would not require hand rails, kickers or an access ladder depending on the design of the trestle rungs. “AS 4576 (guideline) in Section 10 has information on Trestle Scaffolds, and states the working deck should not exceed 2m. In my opinion this is the line drawn in the sand and if the scaffold standards are not used as reference, what guidance is provided in the WHS legislation on Trestle ladder scaffolds? “I would normally recommend use of a mobile or modular scaffold if a trestle scaffold was being used higher than 2m. This is because a modular system can easily be made compliant. Many of the old types of trestle scaffolding cannot be made compliant to AS 1576, unless the trestle has engineered lugs that allow the inclusion of standards, top rail, mid rail and kicker or a brickie screen. This I believe however is in contradiction to AS 4576 (Guideline). “There are some trestles ladder scaffolds that are manufactured so they do comply with the scaffold standards. Does this again contradict AS 4576 (Guideline)? “Trestle scaffold systems are typically made from tubing that is not the regular 2 inch thick. This creates difficulties using 2 inch couplers to tie the trestle scaffold in to a structure if the working deck was at 4m in height. This may be