According to PASMA, if you don’t use towers that conform to EN1004, you risk your own life, or the life of someone else, every time you use one. Significantly, falls from height remain the biggest cause of deaths and major injuries in the workplace.
Developed in conjunction with the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), the campaign is supported by the Hire Association Europe (HAE) and the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA). It highlights the safety critical features of EN1004 towers which can be recognised by the distinctive EN1004 label.
Non-compliant towers, often referred to as ‘domestic’ or ‘H-frame towers’, represent a serious risk to users. Typically they are made from painted or galvanised steel, and, amongst other things, use loose scaffold boards or DIY platforms which can break or move, have no built-in access to ensure safe ascent and descent, and do not come supplied with the correct size and quantity of stabilisers to prevent overturning.
In contrast, EN1004 towers have purpose-designed platforms with safe trapdoor entry and exit, offer built-in access, come complete with the necessary stabilisers, and have the required number and type of guardrails to prevent a fall.
Free leaflets and posters are available in support of the campaign. They emphasize the serious and significant differences between the two types of tower and reinforce the message that selecting and using the correct equipment is essential to safe working.
Ringing the changes
As well as promoting the need to use only towers that comply with the minimum safety requirements of EN1004, PASMA is currently focusing on the flexibility of towers as a safe and productive means of access in a variety of different applications. Typical of these advanced configurations are large deck, bridging and façade tower structures, along with stepped, cantilever and high-level structures.
Typically a large deck structure comprises a series of towers joined together in two or more directions in a grid linked with bridging beams and platforms. They are sometimes referred to as ‘birdcage scaffold’ or ‘boxing ring’. In the example shown a mobile tower has been used to provide access to install insulation, wiring and a suspended ceiling in a large auditorium. It was the preferred solution for a number of reasons:
• Access to the auditorium was very restricted;
• The components could be assembled on a suspended floor;
• The tower itself was extremely light;
• It could be built and dismantled quickly and easily;
• It was fully mobile on rails to allow for multi-location working.
A new leaflet showcasing the advantages, diversity and potential of towers is available from the association.
Towers for Riggers course
Alongside this initiative, the association has launched its latest course, Towers for Riggers. Aimed at advanced users of mobile access towers, the course is currently available to all PASMA hire and assembly members. Delegates are shown how to assemble, use and dismantle complex towers in a variety of different configurations. It reflects the growing use of mobile access towers in a wide range of different and often demanding applications.
The association trains in excess of 60,000 delegates a year, each of whom receive a PASMA certificate of competence and training identity PhotoCard - increasingly the only proof of tower competence accepted in the UK workplace. A PASMA PhotoCard represents demonstrable proof that the holder has been trained to best practice standards based on the latest legislation and most current guidance which, importantly, the association plays a lead role in developing.
PAS 250 for Pulpits and Podiums
A good example of this is PAS 250, a Publicly Available Specification (PAS) for low level-level work platforms often referred to as pulpits or podiums. Designs for this type of low-level work platform (LLWP) have previously been developed in the absence of a formal standard.
Whilst the majority of LLWPs provide a safe solution to low-level access, there are aspects of some products that could be improved by adherence to relevant and specific design criteria. PASMA has therefore sponsored the development of this PAS in order to introduce minimum safety and performance criteria for these particular products.
Pulpits or podiums designed in accordance with PAS 250 apply current best practice. It covers material specifications, design requirements for the working platform, guardrails, toe-boards, access, mobility, feet and adjustable legs and the content of labels and user guides. PASMA strongly recommends that if you have responsibility for purchasing this type of product that you specify PAS 250 compliant products.
