Construction Health & Safety News, Advice and Information from PP Construction Safety

Good practice guidance for tube and fitting scaffolding

The NASC (National Access and Scaffolding Confederation) has published new good practice guidance for tube and fitting scaffolding entitled TG20:13 Technical Guidance which aims to:

• facilitate scaffold designs which conform with the European standard (BS EN 12811);
• reduce the requirement for bespoke scaffolding design for standard structures; and
• raise awareness of good practice and drive up standards of scaffolding and safety.

A ‘suite’ of guidance explaining TG20:13 has also been published which is ‘supported’ by the UKCG, HSE and CITB and was published in February 2014.

Four key publications

A presentation is available online and there are four distinctive publications:

• TG20:13 Operational Guide: full-colour 224-page guide containing detailed practical guidance for most common types of scaffolding supported by structural research and calculations. Guidance is provided for an expanded range of standard structures which includes independent scaffolding, interior birdcages, chimney stack scaffolds, loading bays, ladder-access towers, free-standing towers, lift shaft towers and putlog scaffolding. A range of TG20 ‘compliance sheets’ is included for these structures.
• TG20:13 Design Guide: intended predominantly for engineers and designers, this 206-page document provides technical data, commentary, and source material for use by competent and suitably qualified scaffold designers in circumstances which are outside the scope of standard solutions provided in the TG20:13 Operational Guide and TG20:13 e-Guide software.
• TG20:13 e-Guide: designed for Mac, PC and tablet use to check scaffolds for compliance digitally with software to facilitate printing and circulation of details of TG20 compliant structures by email. The TG20:13 e-Guide calculates and prints compliance sheets for TG20 compliant scaffolding. It allows TG20 to incorporate a wide range of scaffolding configurations, and calculates safe heights, tie duties and leg loads.
• TG20:13 User Guide: a 32-page, full-colour pocket guide in A6 format. This document summarises the requirements for TG20 compliant scaffolding and offers guidance to the scaffolding operative on-site.

NASC Managing Director, Robin James commented:

“ TG20:13 represents a hugely improved, more user-friendly and significantly enhanced technical guidance system. We are confident that our members, and the wider industry, will welcome this innovative product.

“The NASC has invested more than £500k into the research and development of TG20:13. We are confident that it will be a great success and will be positively received by the membership and the wider industry.”

NASC President, Kevin Ward added:

“The new version of TG20 sees a ‘step change’ in our industry with regard to the design of tube and fitting scaffolds. In future our clients will be expecting either a site specific ‘TG20:13 compliance sheet’ or a ‘full temporary works scaffold design’ to be submitted as part of a scaffold plan prior to the commencement of any works, and the HSE will also be looking for this.”

Support from HSE and UKCG

Heather Bryant, HM Chief Inspector of Construction for the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) said:

“Falls from height remain the dominant cause of fatal and serious injuries in the construction industry. Properly designed and constructed scaffolding has a key role to play in reducing that toll of injuries.

“HSE is pleased to acknowledge that the NASC has written TG20:13 to provide a standard for traditional tube and fitting scaffolds to help industry manage safety risks effectively in the scaffolding and wider construction sector.”

Stephen Ratcliffe, Director, UK Contractors Group (UKCG) said:

“We applaud and support the work of the NASC which will no doubt result in safer scaffolding structures being installed and thus reduce the frequency of scaffolding failures, which at present occur far too frequently across the industry.

“The UKCG recommend the adoption and standardised use of TG20:13 to the wider industries that utilise scaffolding structures both within and outside the construction sector.”

This article was posted on 3rd March 2014