Mobile scaffold structures are subject to the same health and safety legislation that fixed scaffolding should be. In fact, it can be more important when it comes to mobile scaffolding as the motion of moving them around a lot could cause stress on the structure in general.
Let’s look at the law when it comes to workplace compensation for mobile scaffolding injuries.
There are plenty of health and safety regulations that can apply to mobile scaffolding accidents amongst the many regulations that exist for employers to abide by. If you are involved in a scaffolding accident, any of the following regulations can apply:
- The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992
- The Work at Height Regulations
- The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations
- The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations
- The Manual Handling Operations Regulations
Each of these have a set of criteria that an employer must abide by to prevent accidents in the workplace. We can take some scenarios to show how the regulations apply.
Falls from scaffolding
The obvious first one is The Work at Height Regulations that stipulate all working at height activities need to be fully risk assessed to ensure they are safe to carry out and to ensure that any staff involved are adequately trained. If you fall because you are perhaps attempting to climb the structure without proper knowledge in how to do so safely, or perhaps there are no guardrails to prevent a fall, you may have a claim.
The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations state that equipment must be provided where certain occupational risks cannot be totally avoided. Equipment is also mentioned in The Work at Height Regulations themselves as well. So let’s say you need to reach over the edge of the scaffolding to access somewhere – you’re clearly at risk of a fall. But if you are wearing a harness and you are locked in to the scaffolding structure and it can safely take your weight in a fall, you can hopefully prevent a serious injury if you do end up falling.
Again, training is of paramount importance. As a man who used to rock climb and having worked at height and with harnesses myself, not understanding how to use a harness safely can be fatal.
Defective, Dangerous, or Unsuitable Scaffolding
Mobile scaffolding is classed as work equipment, which is why The Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations apply. These state that any equipment should not be defective and should be suitable for the job at hand. At the same time, staff need to be fully trained in how to use the equipment safely as well.
Training is somewhat repeated in a lot of the regulations, but it really is essential!
An example could be where you have not been instructed in how to mobilise or set up mobile scaffolding safely and correctly, causing an injury as a result. Whether it’s you as a result of poor training, or whether it’s a colleague’s negligence, your employer can be liable.
Moving the Scaffolding
Moving the scaffolding will likely involve manual handling, which means you are prone to injuries from lifting and moving. Even the act of setting up the scaffolding could involve pushing or pulling on bars as you fit them and push them together. Lifting activities and any activities involving moving heavy objects, whether that means a part of the scaffolding or the structure itself, can lead to serious injury.
Manual handling should be avoided where possible – if it cannot be avoided, tasks must be risk assessed to ensure that they are carried out in the safest way possible. Training is of paramount importance here as well.
I also quoted the general one of The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations 1992. These are for general workplace safety, like avoiding trips and slips, for example. A platform on a mobile scaffolding structure is a traffic route and would still be subject to the above. You can’t have slippery surfaces or tripping hazards for the obvious reasons.
I could go in to so much more detail about all of this, but hopefully the above has given you a good enough basic understanding as to where you might stand for a workplace compensation claim if you are injured when using a mobile scaffold structure. But you should always contact us on 0800 634 75 75 for specialist help and advice.
