18.12.2012

Will they see Christmas?

Spotted yesterday in Langley, Berkshire, UK, two men working on the construction of a new home with dodgy looking access equipmennt.

Watched by our reader, the two needed to reach a dormer window but had no method to do so. The solution? The two rigged up a pair of ladders hooked onto the guardrail vertical posts of the building’s façade scaffold and resting on some spreader material on the roof. Planks were then placed between the ladders, held in place with two more planks which also rest on the vertical posts.
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Two men make do to reach their work

Given the platform is far from level a slip or trip could easily occur with the falling man likely to flip over the guardrail or be impaled on the vertical tube. Perhaps they think that their hi-viz vests will save them? Definitely a Death Wish.
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A closer look reveals their handiwork

According to our reader the building of the two semi-detached houses is being carried out by a developer based in nearby Slough, which is in turn part of a Dublin based development group. Clearly someone needs to tell them all about safe working at height.

Vertikal Comment

This is poor practice for an upmarket developer. We would name them but only have a single source as to their identity. While do not doubt the information, we prefer have a second source or other proof, before any form of ‘naming and shaming’.

The fact is that this work was predictable and should have been planned, no question over the men’s ingenuity they have in fact devised a decent make shift platform – although it is no safe and the time it must have taken would have probably paid for some proper safer equipment.