Scaffold Towers: When and How to Use

August 11th 2020

Scaffold towers are an incredibly useful piece of equipment when it comes to doing work at height. They provide a more stable, larger surface to do work from when compared to ladders. However, they are not always necessary – sometimes a ladder is all that is needed and with both of these pieces of equipment being so useful it can be hard to know when to use each. Let’s take a look at when a scaffold tower is best used, and how to use it ensuring your safety.

When to Use a Scaffold Tower

The advantages of a scaffold tower generally come from its size and surface area. Whilst ladders are a useful tool, a scaffold tower is much more suitable for certain larger tasks – it provides you with a solid workspace to make working at height much easier – with space to store your tools also. In addition to this, if there is more than one person working on the job, a scaffold tower has enough room for the both of you.

Ladders are a much more suitable piece of equipment for odd jobs or jobs which need to be done quickly as they can be put up and down quickly and moved with ease. Scaffold towers take some work to put up so are better suited to larger jobs where one location is needed for a long time. scaffold towers are particularly useful for jobs such as rendering and bricklaying as well as roofing – this is why they are favoured by professionals.

How to Use a Scaffold Tower

When using a scaffold tower, it is essential that you do so safely. Once erected scaffold towers are fairly straightforward to use, but make sure those using them are trained in working at height safely. Some things to bare in mind when using a scaffold tower are to avoid working at height in adverse weather such as high winds or heavy rain where surfaces may become slippery, do not ignore the safe work load – whilst it may be tempting to store more tools or have another person on the tower, if it exceeds the load it is incredibly dangerous.

Falls from height are one of the biggest causes of workplace fatalities and major injuries according to the HSE so it is essential all necessary precautions are taken when working on a scaffold tower and that those doing the work and trained to do so.

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About the Author

Lauren King

Lauren works in our Ecommerce Team, with over 6 years of experience at HSS. She brings product knowledge and is able to give her advice on the right tool for the job no matter how big or small.

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