05.01.2015

Skip access

Spotted by a reader in Poland, an unusual work at height solution from
Australia

We are not sure where exactly this job site was, although believe it to be in New South Wales. Someone has decided to lift the large skip into the gap between the building and sloped edge of the excavation- it looks as though the skip was made to measure.
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Where was all the proper access equipment on this site?

The crew have added what looks like a shoring panel to the top of the skip, and then a couple of planks. They then used ladders to gain access to this makeshift platform. The solution has the benefit of dual use, serving as a waste skip and work platform. However the risks are many.

The platform has no consistent surface, so plenty of trip hazards, no guardrails- let’s not mention toe-boards – the skip is relying on friction to stay in place a move or slip and those protruding steel rebar ends look like ideal impalers, and then of course there is that fairly significant fall from height.

It would be interesting to know what the site manager was thinking on this one. A definite one for the Death Wish series.