Scaffold inspections: the seven-day rule and what else triggers one

1. 01Before it is used for the first time. After erection, and after any alteration or addition.
2. 02Every seven days. The interval is a maximum, not a target. Eight days is a breach even if nothing changed.
3. 03After any event liable to affect stability. High winds, an impact from a vehicle or load, ground movement, flooding, or removal of ties.

The third one catches people out because it depends on judgement rather than a calendar. A storm on day three does not wait for day seven, and a scaffold struck by a delivery lorry needs inspecting before anybody climbs it.

Seven days is a maximum interval. A scaffold inspected on Monday and used the following Tuesday has been used without a valid inspection.

Somebody with the training, knowledge and practical experience to spot the risks and decide what to do about them. There is no single licence, but a CISRS Scaffolding Inspection card, or an Advanced Scaffolder qualification, is the usual evidence for anything beyond a basic tower.

For a simple prefabricated mobile tower, somebody trained under a PASMA course can inspect. For a tube-and-fitting scaffold on a building, it will not be the site manager who has never erected one.

NoteCompetence is judged against the complexity of the scaffold. Using an under-qualified inspector is a finding after an accident, and it is one the paperwork makes obvious.

• Name and address of the person the work was done for.
• Location of the scaffold inspected. Specific enough to identify which one on a site with several.
• Description of the scaffold. Type, height, loading class, and any design it was built to.
• Date and time of the inspection. Both, not just the date.
• Details of anything that could give rise to a risk. The findings, in terms somebody can act on.
• Details of any action taken. And what remains outstanding.
• Any further action considered necessary. With who is doing it and when.
• Name and position of the person making the report.

The report must be completed before the end of the working period in which the inspection took place, given to the person the work was done for within 24 hours, and kept on site until the work is complete. After that it is kept at the office for three months.

A tag at the access point is good practice and widely used, but it is not the statutory record. The written report is. A tag says the scaffold has been inspected and is safe to use; it does not carry the findings, the actions or the detail the regulation requires.

Where a scaffold is incomplete or must not be used, the tag should say so clearly, and physical measures should prevent access rather than relying on somebody reading it.

A green tag with no corresponding report is not compliance. It is a sticker.

Scaffold inspection is one part of managing work at height, which itself sits inside the construction phase plan for the project. The plan should say who inspects, how often, where the reports are kept and what happens when a defect is found.

The scaffold also usually appears in the preliminaries as both a fixed cost to erect and dismantle and a weekly hire charge. A programme extension therefore makes it one of the more expensive time-related items on a job.