22.02.2013
Third world? No UK!
Spotted in the upmarket resort of Salcome Devon a contractor using the most rudimentary access equipment to install steelwork.
The three or four men are working on a small development of two and three storey high luxury homes – Salcome Heights, being developed by Acorn Blue.
The contractor, Kingsman Construction of Poole, has clearly decided not to waste any money on additional access equipment to install the upper level steelwork, having invested in traditional tube and coupler scaffolding for the first two levels.
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Working on a dodgy tower to place steelwork
So it has employed some small diameter steel tube towers, that do not meet any standards whatsoever and look as though they have been found in a skip. A plywood sheet serves as a platform and to get up onto the tower, a ladder has been provided… or has it actually been knocked up on site?
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Here comes help... look at that ladder
There are so many things wrong in the way these men are working it is hard to know where to start. Even the men working at the bottom of the tower are well above the guardrails which include a very effective spike if any of them lost their footing they would either go over the edge and fall to their death or be impaled on one of those scaffold poles.
I don’t think we will even bother getting into the slinging on the steel work, that’s another story in itself. Note they have their Hi-Viz jackets on… although PPE does not extend to hard hats we see.
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Two men squeezed onto a open tower three floors up
This is an accident waiting to happen and a grossly inefficient way to work on top. Hopefully one of our local readers will get around to the job site and offer them some safe and more efficient alternatives? We understand that these photos were taken on Wednesday.
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A closer look
A most definite and disturbing Death Wish
Sherm
Writing from the central USA I would shout to these chaps to please stop and lend me your ears. Then I would say, "I guess that you enjoy life but that enjoyment might end suddenly as you have several mishaps lying in wait like a hidden alligator waiting to end the work you are doing. Will you discuss the situation with me?" Set up this way might have been the plan of the foreman so they might not be totally to blame. There are tradespeople here who do the similar setups not realizing what hazards might end their life or seriously injure them. The photos sure tell the story.