Scaffold Inspection

Overview

Scaffold Inspection should be managed through a planned system of work: identify the task-specific hazards, eliminate exposure where practical, use engineered or collective controls before relying on PPE, verify critical safeguards before starting, and stop the task when controls are missing or conditions change. This guide applies those principles specifically to competent-person inspection of scaffold foundations, structure, access and fall protection.

Main Hazards

• • Missing braces, guardrails, planks or access components
• • Settlement, unauthorized alteration or overloading
• • Collapse, falling material or structural instability
• • Falls, unsafe access and struck-by exposure
• • Underground services or changing ground conditions

Essential Controls

1. 1Inspect before each work shift and after events that could affect structural integrity.
2. 2Remove access when critical defects, incomplete erection or unauthorized changes are found.
3. 3Inspect the work area by a competent person and reassess after changing conditions.
4. 4Provide stable access, edge protection and physical separation from mobile equipment.
5. 5Control collapse, falling-object and service-strike hazards before work starts.
6. 6Stop work when weather, ground, loading or structural conditions invalidate the safe system.

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