Effective Fall Protection

Fall accidents are still the order of the day in Germany. In 2016, BG BAU registered over 8,000 crashes with 29 deaths. Effective fall protection should take all building processes into account.

Photos: Peri

According to the Occupational Health and Safety Act (§ 5), every employer, including every painting company, is obliged to prepare a risk assessment before starting work or building work. Collective safety measures, such as barriers, covers, protective nets or constructive solutions for facade scaffolding, which work for all workers on site, have priority over personal protective equipment (PPE).

The risk assessment is carried out individually and has the aim of identifying the potential dangers on the construction site in advance and defining appropriate protective measures that can be integrated into the work process of the painting company. In connection with the setting up and operation of a facade scaffolding, the dangers of falling, stumbling, slipping, falling, obstacles, building openings on the inside, cable routing as well as machines and tools lying around must be taken into account. The risk assessment should be regularly checked by those responsible and adapted to changing situations.

With Peri Up, the manufacturer focuses entirely on the area of occupational safety. The principle of a high level of constructive safety when assembling and disassembling the scaffolding system is also worth considering for painting companies that take over the scaffolding with their own small inventory or with self-managed rental scaffolding.

The small number of components with integrated assembly logic offers advantages. In addition, the almost completely tool-free assembly and the reduced weight of the individual scaffolding components benefit the handling and the physical strain can be reduced.

The Peri-Up scaffolding kit shows how advanced the system-integrated construction and usage security can be today as a length-oriented facade scaffold. Peri Up Easy achieves weight advantages through high-strength steels and adapted, differently designed component profiles, which relieve the staff during assembly and disassembly. Due to its open, divided construction, the heaviest Easy frame for the system width 100 centimeters only weighs 12.5 kilograms; all other components, with the exception of the large-format, one-piece combination covering, are lighter.

Secured position

From a security point of view, it is important that the rule structure is built up, converted and dismantled from a secure position. The safe position is the already assembled scaffolding layer including all safety devices such as railing rails on the long side and front railings at the end of the scaffolding fields, covering surfaces with steps and toe boards. All components can be hooked in and locked from below before the newly created scaffolding level is entered at all.

The scaffolding system detaches itself from traditional system construction methods in its connection and fastening technology. The system has succeeded in combining the properties of the frame and module scaffolding in a modular system, since the Rosett knot is integrated as a connection element both in the vertical supports and in the open Easy frame. Bars, supports and consoles are hung directly into the openings of the rosette-shaped knot; almost no couplings are necessary. All locking devices grip without special manipulations and essentially ensure that connections can be loaded immediately without tools.

The automatically effective lift-off protection for the rubbers works on the same principle. On the one hand, all these measures reduce the risk of falling, on the other hand, they allow the scaffolding to be set up quickly. Painting companies can thus improve their earnings and reduce the risk of accidents with the corresponding follow-up costs.

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PraxisPlus

BG BAU has carried out preliminary considerations on risk assessment for painters and varnishers.

www.bgbau-medien.de/site/gb/gb_einstieg.htm