How does PowerScaffold enhance my crew's safety?

Crews that are completing work on the sides, or roofs of buildings such as siding, painting, sheething, or shingles normally get in position to complete the work with the use of ladders, scaffolding with planks or walk boards, or ladders and ladder jacks. Not as common are the use of pump jacks.

Most walk boards used on job sites are 12 to 16 inches wide if they are the type used on staging that snaps onto the rungs of the staging. Many construction crews us plain wooden planks such as 2 x 8s, 2 x 10s, or 2 x 12s rather than manufactured walk boards. Although OSHA rules require rails, in practical terms rails are not usually installed, especially on home building projects, where this time consuming step is skipped. Crews just don’t take the time. If longer aluminum walk boards are used they are normally only 12 inches wide, and as a practical matter, never have a rail. This is true even if used at some height above the ground. It is not uncommon to see a 12 inch aluminum walk board used at 15 or 20 feet or higher with no safety rails and this usually on only marginally stable staging. Crewmembers catch their balance by steadying themselves against the structure they are working on.

If the job has nothing to do with government work and thus not likely to be inspected by OSHA reps, virtually no safety measures are taken. The men, and by extension you, mostly rely on self-preservation to guide their thinking and actions regarding safety. Many a contractor has found to his dismay that members of their crew don’t take self-preservation very seriously, and even if they do, accidents happen. No one wants to see a member of their crew hurt or disabled but:

WHEN ACCIDENTS HAPPEN, THE RESULTS ARE USUALLY VERY EXPENSIVE FOR YOU, THE CONTRACTOR. If Workers Comp covers your crew, which is normally the case, you will be subjected to a steep increase in premiums. Insurance experts tell us that premiums could easily be 50% higher to as much as double in the case of a large claim or even several small claims. If not covered by Workers Comp you may be in for a legal battle for your financial survival, which you very well may lose. This is true no matter how hard you personally worked to strive for safety. The worker or workers who got hurt, according to most juries, are never responsible for themselves, no matter how stupidly they conducted themselves. This is true even if they defied your direct orders, which if followed, would have averted the accident.

PowerScaffold enhances the safety of you and your crew by:

§ Providing a wide slip free surface to walk on. The surface is non-slip even if it is wet. The center section of the walk board is 30 inches wide and the pull out sections are 27 in on one side and 24 inches on the other.

§ Providing a stable rail at all times. The center section has a built in rail on both front and backsides. The pull out sections have telescoping rail sections that are deployed manually as the sections are pulled out. This is accomplished before the unit is raised for use. Your crew is always surrounded by a rail as they work from the unit.

§ If your crew is working on a roof, the PowerScaffold walk board can be positioned just below the eve. This provides a stable stop should someone slip while on the roof and slide off the edge.

§ By positioning the PowerScaffold walk board in this way there is also much less chance of accidents from falling debris or tools. Persons who happen to be on the ground below the work area are much less likely to be hit by anything dropped on the roof that goes off the edge. How many times have you seen a reciprocating saw, a chunk of lumber, a bundle of shingles, a hammer, or other things go off the eve of a roof under construction? If any of these hits a person on the ground they can be severely injured. You don’t want that to happen. Not only do you not want to see someone hurt, there are legal ramifications, even with insurance.

PowerScaffold does not eliminate these accidents, but it does make the chance of their happening much less likely. Averting just one accident involving severe personal injury to a workman or a passerby makes the cost of the PowerScaffold unit worthwhile.

Safety was also a major consideration in the design of the PowerScaffold unit.

When set up, PowerScaffold is set securely on manual screw jacks which hold the trailer unit steady. To keep the unit from tipping when the walk board is extended we have designed heavy outrigger arms that are deployed with the hydraulic system to maintain a steady base as weight shifts.

The controls on the unit are also designed with safety in view.

The unit has a MASTER SWITCH that turns off all controls on the entire unit. With the master switch in the OFF position no controls can be opperated. This MASTER SWITCH is located inside a steel electrical and hydraulic box on the trailer which can be locked. Without access to this switch, no hydraulics on the machine can be opperated. This box also denies access to most of the more expensive components and batterys making theft less likely.

There are two control panels on the PowerScaffold unit, each with all the major controls for the walk board.

The ground control panel is located inside the lockable steel box on the trailer. This protects it from the elements as well as the fingers of curious persons who may try their hand at running the controls. When the box is locked there is no access to this control box.

The walk board mounted control panel is located on the rail of the walk board. This panel has all the major controls as well as four special controls not found on the trailer mounted panel.

1.
On the side of the walk board mounted control panel is located the power control switch. This is a three position keyed switch that allows a person on the walk board to control which control panel (either the trailer mounted or the walk board mounted) is energized or if both are killed making movement of the walk board impossible.

If the keyed switch is in the counter clockwise position the trailer mounted control panel is energized and the walk board control panel is killed. In this position only the trailer mounted control panel will opperate any of the hydraulics. If the key is removed in this position, it is impossible for anyone to opperate the walk board controls either accidentally or on purpose.

In the center position this keyed switch kills both the trailer mounted control panel and the walk board mounted control panel. With the key removed in this position, the machine can not be opperated. If left unattended, a passerby can not opperate any controls.

If turned to the extreme clockwise position, only the walk board mounted control panel is energezed. This means that no one can unintentionally or purposely move the walk board from the trailer mounted control panel. This makes accidents due to unexpected movements of the walk board very unlikely.

2.
A feature of the walk board control panel is the DEAD MAN SWITCH. This is a lever activated switch that energezes the walk board mounted control panel. Without this DEAD MAN SWITCH engaged, no power goes to the walk board control panel making it impossible to move the controls. In order to activate this switch, the operater must grip the rail along with the lever of the switch, meaning he must be holding on with one hand while opperating the controls with the other. Having to take such a positive action makes accidental or unintended movement of the controls almost impossible. The activation or deactivation of the DEAD MAN SWITCH also automatically engages or disengages the ANTI-SWAY CROSS BRACE.

3.
The third safety feature on the PowerScaffold unit is the ANTI-SWAY CROSS BRACE. This is a telescoping tube and brake that ties the outboard end of one of the articulating lifting arms to the base of the other. When the DEAD MAN SWITCH is activated to opperate the walk board control panel, a signal is sent to the ANTI-SWAY CROSS BRACE locking device to unlock the cross brace. This allows the brace to telescope and allow movement of the arms to reposition the walk board. When the DEAD MAN SWITCH is released another signal is sent to the locking mechanism to tighten the lock on the ANTI-SWAY CROSS BRACE which stabalizes the walk board so that is will not sway back and forth as workers move about on the walk board. Thus, while some amount of vertical movement is possible due to unavoidable flexing of the steel and aluminum parts of the machine, almost no horizontal movement is noticed. This makes it much less likely for a worker to lose his or her balance by any unexpected movements.

4.
Not available from the trailer mounted control panel is the WALK BOARD AUTO LEVEL feature. This is activated by a switch located on the walk board control panel. When the AUTO LEVEL feature is activated, sensers on the walk board mounts deturmine if the walk board is level in the front to back direction. If the walk board is deturmined to be out of level (within a range), the sensers send an apporpriate signal to the hydraulic system to make the correction automatically. This frees the opperater from the responsibility of manipulating the hydraulic system manually and lessons the chance of a miscue.

5.
To be sure that the main lifting cylinders can not accidentally lower due to a hydraulic line failure, PowerScaffold is equiped with electrically opperated safety valves on each main cylinder. These valves function as shut off valves which will stop any fluid movement unless intentionally opened thru the electrical system. If a mishap should occure that fractures a main cylinder hydraulic line, this device assures that the walk board will not suddenly lower on one or both ends.

6.
One factor not to be overlooked, is worker fatigue. Climbing up and down ladders and staging all day is tiring for crew members. Not only do they have a tendancy to take more short breaks after climbing up and down a few times, but their balance and attention to what they are doing are affected. This costs you, the owner, money in lost time and possibly wasted material, and makes the possibility of an accident more likely. With PowerScaffold your crew will not have to climb up and down ladders or staging because most of the materials and tools they need are right up on the unit with them.

Every effort has been made to ensure the safety of the persons opperating a PowerScaffold unit. Persons who have much experience in working with construction crews were consulted in the design of the safety measures incorporated into the PowerScaffold unit. With that insight, every practical measure was incorporated into the design of the systems. No one is nieve enough to think that any piece of equipment is absolutely safe, but with PowerScaffold the risk of accidents for your crew is greatly lowered over standing on ladders or standard staging with no rails.