Mobile towers

Scaffold or mobile towers are always safer than ladders for working above ground... 

Prefabricated mobile scaffold towers Mobile scaffold towers are frequently used throughout industry. It is essential that the workers are trained in their use since recent research has revealed that 75% of lightweight mobile tower scaffolding is erected, used, moved or dismantled in an unsafe manner. 

The main reasons that a mobile tower scaffold may become unstable are ... 

Identify measures that should be adopted in order to protect against the dangers of people and/or materials falling from a mobile tower scaffold. 

A mobile tower scaffold is to be used in the repointing of external brickwork on the gable end wall of a building, which is 10 m high at its highest point. 

No report is required following the inspection of any mobile tower scaffold which remains in the same place for less than 7 days. 

A wide variety of equipment falls into this category, ranging from small, mobile tower structures with self-elevating facilities, to large vehicle-mounted, hydraulically-operated platforms. Some of their uses may involve high risk situations - these have been identified by the HSE as where ... 

All possible bolting up and connecting should be done at low, preferably ground, level. Work that has to be done at height is best carried out by using other means such as mobile towers or MEWPs for access, provided that the ground conditions are suitable. 

See also information on mobile towers, mobile elevated working platforms and ladders)... 

All working platforms should be inspected on handover to or from other contractors. After alteration or adverse weather conditions, mobile towers should be inspected by management. Towers over 2 m in height must be inspected every 7 days and the results recorded. All scaffold inspections must be carried out by a competent person. Scaffolds should be checked regularly to ensure their correct use and that unauthorised adaptations have not been made. 

Paragraph 6 no report is required for mobile towers, unless they remain erected in the same place for 7 days or more. (Note that if a tower has to be dismantled and then re-erected because it has been moved, then it is probably no longer in the same place .)... 

Spot replacement is the replacement of individual lamps as and when they fail. This is probably the most suitable method of maintaining small lighting installations in shops, offices and nursing homes, and is certainly the preferred method in domestic property. But each time a lamp is replaced or cleaned, a small disturbance occurs to the normal environment. Access equipment must be set up, furniture must be moved and the electrician chats to the people around him. In some environments this small disturbance and potential hazard from someone working on steps or a mobile tower is not acceptable and, therefore, group replacement of lamps must be considered. 

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