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The NASC reviews 2008's standards development

News from NASC

Outgoing chair of the NASC Technical Committee Rob Lynch has had a busy year overseeing guidance updates, not least of which is the production of TG20:08.

The following is his annual address from the NASC year book in 2009;

The Technical Committee remains an extremely well attended and popular working group with 20 members and an extensive waiting list. The committee also benefits from full-time attendance by the HSE and is grateful for this.

The Committee embraces all aspects of the engineering community including in-house engineers, consultants and manufacturers. It has been a regret that we have not been able to invite more of the new members who have applied to join the committee, but I’m sure that everyone appreciates an ever-expanding committee would probably be less rather than more productive.

In order to get as much input as possible, I would like to invite applications from non-committee members to join the various working groups which are currently drafting the next set of Technical Guidance notes. If anyone would like to get involved in the real nuts and bolts of the work, can they please contact David Chapman at the NASC’s office.

The major Technical Guidance notes currently in production relate to Edge Protection and Temporary Roofs. TG1 on Edge Protection is in its final draft stage and has been a complex challenge as it has needed to reflect the requirements of BS EN13374, another challenge sent from Europe.

TG9 on Temporary Roofs is a major piece of work as it has to take on a large number of intricate and involved issues including highlighting safe systems of work which will require liaison with the Health and Safety Committee.

We are open to suggestions as to other areas members might like the committee to either review or start from scratch. Please contact your regional representative or any committee member with your requests. The Technical Committee also takes on and responds to ad hoc questions from all areas of the construction industry.

In signing off as chairman of the Technical Committee, I would like to particularly thank on behalf of the NASC all members of the TG20 Working Group chaired by Ian Nicol. They have shown Stakhanovite commitment over the last six years.

It is a tribute to them that the NASC holds the position as the only serious voice on all matters impacting on scaffolding; and its position is reinforced further by the release of TG20:08.

In order to understand the rationale behind the revision to TG20, it is perhaps best to look back at the evolution of TG20:05. The UK scaffolding industry has been impacted by two major changes in its regulatory framework since 2004.

The first was the introduction of the European standard BS EN 12811-1 which was closely followed by the Working at Height Regulations The new standard has been introduced to harmonise the European working practice and has superseded the UK’s traditional BS5973.

Historically, BSI (the British Standards Institute) would have been expected to take the lead and incur the investment in revising such a fundamental and widelyused standard as BS 5973; unfortunately they were unable to do so. The NASC, recognising the importance of ensuring that tube and fitting scaffolds interpreted the requirements correctly, took on the challenge.

TG20:05 was written to conform to BS EN 12811 and the Working at Height Regulations. Complying with the standard, however, posed significant safety and management challenges. The HSE and the NASC had been concerned by the practical limitations of TG20:05 and BS EN 12811 and as a result neither document has been embraced by the UK scaffolding industry.

The HSE has worked with the NASC in the preparation of the revised guidance to resolve the difficulties encountered in BS EN 12811-1. This new document, TG20:08, is now ready to be published.

The NASC membership should be aware of the time and commitment shown by all members of the working group who have given a significant amount of their time freely over the last three years endeavouring to make the revised document as helpful to the industry as possible.

This has also been the most extensive investment the NASC has ever made in any document, to date over £250,000 has been spent, which in reality is only a fraction of the real cost if the time of the member engineers was also to be included. The construction industry should recognise the leadership the NASC has shown in taking on and entirely self funding such a major challenge.

The most recent expenditure has been on a series of full-scale tests undertaken at BRE. These tests proved that the assumptions in TG20 are fully supported and also helped to highlight some possible areas of improvement.

TG20:08 is a major rewrite (not just an edit) and as such it features many benefits including:

• a wider scope; including a larger number of standard scaffold arrangements, e.g. two inside boards
• supporting full-scale tests and calculations while being informed by custom and practice
• benefiting from direct input from the HSE
• including debris netted scaffolds
• applying to the whole of the UK
• providing guidance for Putlog scaffolds
• being more practical and above all workable

Fundamentally, the principles of BS 5973 will remain unchanged and very little changes for the scaffolder day-to-day.

The main changes are:

• the process of ‘justifying’ the design will change, rather than the scaffold structure
• facade/sway bracing every six bays
• criteria for some sheeted scaffolds becomes more onerous

Significant investment both in money and time has gone into the new document and all but the last edits are now in place for TG20:08.

With an expected launch before the end of 2008, the NASC envisages that all of their members will be working fully to the new guidance by 2010.

The next stage will be the implementation, to support the launch training modules are being developed for scaffolders, and ASITO (Access and Scaffolding Training Organisation) have agreed to produce toolbox talks and update all CISRS (Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme) courses.

The NASC is also reviewing training requirements for supervisors, managers, estimators, engineers and safety professionals with the current plan being that a Users’ Guide will be published during 2009.