OSEM Addresses Safety Concerns

NEW JOINT SCAFFOLDING MANUFACTURERS’ INITIATIVE ADDRESSES SAFETY CONCERNS HEAD ON
Release Date: June 2003

Five of the country’s leading manufacturers and suppliers of scaffolding equipment are announcing a joint stance against what they perceive to be one of the most important threats to safety in their industry.

Haki, Layher, SGB, RMD Kwikform and Van Thiel are committing themselves to minimising the risk of inferior copies of their equipment being used or - in some respects, worse - mixed with the genuine product. Under the banner of OSEM - Original Scaffolding Equipment Manufacturers - the group is calling on all construction companies to develop their understanding of a risk which some may even see as tantamount to `piracy` and also one which represents a major threat to health and safety on site.

The increasing use of system scaffolding across Europe has brought with it the unwanted availability of cheap, inferior copies of equipment. It is an issue which has already been addressed in some countries – in France, for example, through the NF-Mark system – but the UK is far from immune from the problem. According to OSEM, the associated risks arise not simply from the use of potentially inferior material - with clear implications for personnel safety - but also from issues of liability and insurance.

Paul Brunt is Managing Director of Haki Scaffolding’s UK operation and has for some time been highlighting the key factors which he believes end users should consider when specifying scaffolding equipment.

“The quality of the product is the first and perhaps the most obvious consideration,” he says. “This should be thought of both in terms of material specification and the manufacturing processes, particularly with regard to reliability and performance testing, which must be of the highest standard.

“Moreover,” he continues, “training and safe working procedures should be regarded as just as important as the equipment, whilst proven customer support in both an operational and a commercial sense is also vital.”

He believes that unless satisfactory evidence of these requirements is readily available, individuals in the building industry are not only taking wholly avoidable risks but are not even getting as much from their scaffolding as they should. These are sentiments which are echoed by SGB’s Marketing Manager, Peter Bond, who also emphasises the liability and insurance threats that can arise.

“Where equipment of mixed origins is found to be involved in an accident, any quality manufacturer, such as those who have now formed OSEM, would not be able to take responsibility for any products manufactured by third parties,” he says.

“The construction industry already pays great attention to health and safety issues but in the case of, taking just one example of the risks of falls from heights, the uncertainty which could also arise from equipment failure in this context could place the contractors themselves in a highly exposed position. Added pressure on insurance rates could represent a further unwelcome twist,” he adds.

Each of the organisations now committed to the OSEM group is keen to emphasise that this joint initiative has not arisen for trade or commercial reasons. Its sole aim is concerned with highlighting the dangers of mixing their genuine equipment with products from other, sometimes unknown, sources.

To this end, the organisation has defined a series of key factors that it believes are the major aspects of product quality which end users should take fully into account.

These include, for example, the fact that the original manufacturers only purchase their raw materials from reputable sources with traceable supplies, that there is a commitment to gaining approvals from third party inspection bodies around the world and that careful calculation and testing of components for performance in order to recognise national and international standards is undertaken. Similarly, a guarantee of load capacities for equipment used in accordance with guidelines provides a high degree of comfort in respect of product liability issues.

The OSEM group is now looking to present these key health and safety points directly to the major construction companies in the industry. Whilst it acknowledges that such organisations have an unquestioned commitment to following optimum safety procedures, OSEM is basing its initiative on a real fear that many scaffolding contractors and construction companies alike may not be fully aware of the problems or potential risks that can arise from the use of inferior equipment or its mixing on site.

“Our law makers and enforcers must also play an active role in this vital area,” concludes Paul Brunt, “to make sure that the key objectives defined by OSEM are acknowledged for their importance.

“We believe it is a question first of recognition and then of pulling together,” he adds, “to the benefit of not just the responsible manufacturers and suppliers in the business, but indeed of everybody involved on a construction site."