Dodgy Welding Unit

It is dodgy because the handpiece cable is only 1500 mm long! Therefore, the formworker must position this stinking, petrol-powered welder right next to himself so he can breathe in exaust fumes all day long.

When this issue was raised with management, the exact reply was: “That’s all they had”. That excuse does not make this safety issue go away! Send it back and tell the plant hire company not to send out unsafe, sub-standard equipment.

When requesting plant from a plant hire company such as this petrol powered welder, you should show that you know what you are talking about by telling them to supply long handpiece cables instead of just getting what CRAP they send you.

Why pay full price for sub-standard plant?

Don’t Be A Bozo

Don’t be a bozo and breathe in petrol exaust just because management cannot organize safe plant and equipment. You are better off getting fired than breathing in that shit for a day, a week or even months.

A common excuse construction supervisors give is “that’s all they had” or “that’s all we’ve got”. That’s is not your problem! Don’t be a bozo and use dodgy, unsafe plant and equipment.

Avoid injuries by using a star picket driver to drive in star pickets when erecting safety barricades. Avoid back injuries by using the star picket extractor (also called star picket puller) to extract those star pickets from hard ground.

Star Picket Extractor and Driver

The ground was so hard at Iron Duke mining construction site that many of these star pickets bent over at the “bite point” before they would budge. Here is a star picket being extracted from hard rocky ground with the star picket extracting tool.

Star Picket Extractor in Action

Tip: That part of the star picket extractor that “bites” onto the star picket can be extended with a short chain which makes it much easier to use.

Star picket drivers and extractors can be hired from most good plant hire companies. They can also be purchased at all good stores which sell rural fencing supplies, and other good outlets which specialize in roadworks equipment.

I have been doing a bit of looking around Online at certain rural outlets for these items and have found that many Rural Supply outlets along with Plant Hire companies say on their web site “no photo available”. Hell, if they actually have the item for sale or hire, then there *is* a photo available, all they have to do is take a picture and upload it to their web site.

Tip: If there is no photo available, I think they are not a “good” store. You need to actually see what you buy or hire Online, else you’ll have to settle for what they send (which could fall short of your expectations).

Brand new (nine day old) 250 tonne Leibher Crane crashes through concrete floor on a Sydney Construction Site. I have not been told of any injuries or fatalities. If you know anything about this incident, your comments are welcome.

Photo 01 – Crane Crash 26-September-2008 Sydney

It would appear that the concrete floor did not have enough Back Propping underneath, and I cannot make out if large enough Sole Boards were used (if any) under the outrigger pads.

This concrete floor would also have a safe working load limit. If the crane exceeded the safe working load limit, the entire path where the crane traveled should be back propped underneath in order to increase the safe working load of the floor.

Photo 02 – Crane Crash

In most cases, a crane coordinator from the crane hire company usually sees things like this in advance and makes the necessary arrangements. At other times, experienced crane operators, riggers and doggers are competent enough to anticipate back-propping requirements.

Photo 03 – Crane Crash

The next photo reveals an outrigger pad with no sole-boards underneath it!

Photo 04 – Crane Crash

To me, Sole Boards are standard and should be placed underneath outrigger pads whenever the crane is setup. I was always told that outrigger pads can penetrate concrete floors and to always use sole boards underneath outrigger pads when setting up a crane.

Photo 05 – Crane Crash

Tip: Always position plenty of back-propping under a concrete floor directly underneath the outriggers, and always use big solid sole-boards underneath the outrigger pads in order to distribute the weight over a larger area.

Even when sufficient and correct back-propping is in place, outrigger pads have been known to penetrate concrete floors where sole boards have not been used.

Extra Sole Boards In order to distribute the weight over a larger area, it can be a good idea to stack two rows (instead of just one row) of hardwood sleepers under the specific outriggers which will be under the most load.

If you are ever unsure, ring the crane coordinator and demand an official decision.

Thanks for the photos Joe

A construction worker told me yesterday that after seeing co-workers suffering from bleeding noses, nasty coughs, and angry skin rashes, he decided to do the right thing and not return to the Mining Construction site located at Mt Isa Queensland after his scheduled R&R.

Required PPE In Some Areas

The man also concludes that there could be a heavy-metal poisoning risk due to the mandatory blood testing conducted at the companies expense on all workers. It is reported that lead, copper and zinc levels are so high that sweeping or blowing is prohibited. (Tell that to the wind!)

It is also reported that on this particular mining construction site, 60 workers have quit in the last 150 days and that this could be the reason why they have stopped issuing winter PPE jackets even though it is pretty cold in the morning.

Workplace bullying such as name-calling, mocking and embarrassing (pussie, harden-up, making fun in front of peers etc) of blokes who report health concerns and injuries have also been reported.

In a previous post, we asked what was wrong with the mobile scaffold, but that pales in comparison to the following photo taken today at a Beenleigh construction site 37 KM south of Brisbane CBD.

Dodgy Mobile Scaffold

Yep, that’s somebody actually working up there.

Dodgy Mobile Scaffold Wheel

Don’t you love technology? Somebody in Queensland takes a photo, sends it to me here in South Australia and minutes later it is live on the World Wide Web. Thanks Joe

Use scaffolding whenever there is a chance of falling from heights. Don’t feel under pressure to get up there without a scaffold just because the “concrete is coming”. You didn’t order the concrete, therefore it’s not your problem.

The laws for safe working heights differ from state to state, so remember that when you are working away from home.

Related Resources

• Working at Heights & Fall Prevention South Australia
• Work at Heights Guide Queensland
• Safety priorities for working at heights Western Australia

Formwork Carpenter John helps out during a concrete pour by directing all the concrete trucks to the concrete pump. The pump was parked near the excavation where the concrete was getting placed, so John kept the concrete trucks at a safe distance.

Formwork Carpenter John At Iron Duke

After reading about a killed worker as a result of being buried under wet concrete after a suspended slab collapsed, I wondered if some of us are too relaxed with our attitude towards Back-Propping.

The Do It Later Attitude

The photo below shows a small part of a formwork deck which in my opinion was done in a hurry due to the large number of incomplete Back-Propping assignments. This can only be the result of a flawed Work Method Statement.

Unsafe Back-Propping

You’ll notice that the Props are sitting on a flat timber which also needs to be propped before the concrete pour. The attitude here is “we’ll do it later”, or worse, “it’s okay” as it is. The problem with this attitude is that inside this maze of formwork frames, it can be very difficult to remember or spot all these important do-it-later jobs.

Often this do-it-later job is allocated to a Formworker experienced with spotting danger areas of a deck and back-propping accordingly. Too often this job is allocated too late only allowing time to insert the props, but not to tie them off with Scaffold Tube and Clamps (Fittings).

Top is Back Propped, bottom is Not

The other reason that this finish-it-just-before-the-concrete-pour attitude is flawed is because the deck will continue to be loaded with additional bundles of plywood, timber and steel well before the concrete pour day. Heavy compressors could also be landed on the deck along with big bundles of pipes for the concrete pump.

What this means is that it is possible to overload and collapse parts of the deck even before the concrete pour day if the Back-Propping is incomplete.

Do It Now

Never leave these Back-Propping jobs incomplete. Do them immediately and completely as you go. This procedure should be placed in the companies Work Method Statement in order to ensure that your supervisor or leading hand can not take you to another job before the Back-Propping is 100% complete.

Communicate

You should also communicate with the Deck Head informing them of the areas where construction materials should not be placed. Deck heads should also inform Doggers the correct way to lay the Dunnage/Gluts.

For example, the Dunnage should always go across several Joist timbers instead of longways in between the Joists where the loaded Dunnage could easily penetrate through the plywood. This mistake is made very often so keep an eye on beginner doggies with no formwork experience.

Secure Those Props

Too often props are not nailed at the top because there is simply no way to reach up there safely. A single prop on it’s own falling over can threaten life or limb as well as be responsible for the collapse of a formwork deck.

Even if the props are nailed to the Header, there is no guarantee that the Header is nailed properly to the Joists. For this reason, props should be secured with scaffold tube and clamps back to the frames which will ensure the props remain in the desired position.

Plan To Minimize Back-Propping

A lot of Back-Propping in the above pictured deck could have been eliminated altogether by planning the layout of the frames better. If frames are erected at the minimum required span or less, the need for Back-Propping will be reduced to a minimum.

Of course this method assumes that the formwork company does not take short-cuts by deliberately using lots of unnecessary props because there is a shortage of Frames. The general rule for this should be if a Frame can fit, put it in there.

Cause And Effect

Because every effect has a cause, be assured that it is somebodies fault that the worker engulfed in wet concrete was killed!

You don’t need to be an Einstein to figure out where this washer should go on this 90 degree scaffold clamp. Obviously, it should go under the nut to prevent wear and tear of the clamp and to stop the nut possibly slipping through the slot.

Scaffold Clamp Fitted Wrong

This scaffolding is used as a guardrail in a high-rise stairwell. On this job it is the responsibility of the formwork company to install these guard-rails.

Instead of saying thanks, The bloke that did this job wanted to debate the issue with me when I gave him the free tip. Sometimes this is what happens when you cast your pearls among the swine. Blokes like this should pull the cotton wool out of their ears, put it in their mouth and harden up a bit.

Sure this scaffold clamp will probably hold, however, when the Client you are doing this work for continually sees stuff like this, they will perceive your company as being dodgy and using incompetent people. When I see a scaffold clamp fitted like this, I straight away don’t trust any other safety rectification work performed by the rogue agent.

Some say that the client rarely uses the stairwell because they use the personnel hoist instead. However, I know for a fact that many construction management people who primarily work in the site office frequently use the stairwell as a form of exercise.

For this reason, all safety rectification work should be quality controlled.

It is also not a “good look” to use gear which has not received any maintenance for a long time. For example, scaffold clamps with visible rust. The threads on scaffold clamps should be oiled well before they start to look like this.

If they don’t bother to service scaffold clamps, what else don’t they service – The Hydraulic Jump Form? The Hydraulic Slip Form? The Personnel/Material elevator?

Whenever you hire mobile scaffolding, a drawing is supplied which shows the correct way to errect it, so how come it is common to see mobile scaffolds like this?

Dodgy Mobile Scaffold

So What’s Wrong With This Scaffold?

• Firstly, the ladder is on the outside of the scaffolding instead of on the inside.
• The Ledgers (The ones painted yellow) are fastened to the Transom (The horizontal one) instead of onto the Standard (The verticle one). The only ledgers that should be attached to the transom are the ones at the top for the guard rails.
• There is two Ledgers missing.
• It is braced incorrectly.
• The work platform is cluttered.
• The Brakes are off.

Although it is hard to see, it looks like there is one diagonal Plan Brace. Sometimes one is supplied and sometimes two.