Construction fail: And the unsafe scaffolding award goes to

This is the sight that greeted one of our surveyors after local residents contacted building control about work on their street. If this is what the ‘scaffolding’ looks like, what’s the work like inside?!

Our surveyor told the builder not to use the dodgy structure as it wasn’t safe - the builder thought it was ok because it was only for him and his dad!

Other issues

Closer investigation revealed that the owner of the property didn’t think building regulation approval was needed for fixing external insulation. If you’re adding or altering any layer of the thermal envelope you may need a building regs application, so always ask your local building control team first.

The owner eventually submitted an application and provided all the information requested by building control…and brought in a proper scaffolding company!

Scaffold requirements

Did you know that unless a scaffold is assembled to a generally recognised standard configuration, it should be individually designed by a competent person? This is to ensure the structure will have adequate strength, rigidity and stability while up, when used and when being dismantled.

Read this Health & Safety Executive guide to understand when a scaffold design is required and what level of training and competence those erecting, dismantling, altering, inspecting and supervising scaffolding operations are expected to have.

Please Note: Every care was taken to ensure the information was correct at the time of publication. Any written guidance provided does not replace the user’s professional judgement. It is the responsibility of the dutyholder or person carrying out the work to ensure compliance with relevant building regulations or applicable technical standards.