THE HEADS of Workplace Safety Authorities (HWSA) is implementing a safety campaign for scaffolding in the construction industry.
According to the HWSA, the national compliance campaign will focus on compliance with AS 1576 Scaffolding within the construction industry.
Inspectors will visit at least 800 sites, recording data on a site visit checklist sheet.
The first phase of the safety campaign will start in August and September 2009, and will focus on compliance. Inspectors will try and identify the reasons for non-compliance.
The second phase will commence in April 2010 to determine the level of continued compliance with AS 1576.
According to the HWSA, this national campaign is motivated by a number of fatal and injurious scaffolding incidents which occurred recently in NSW, QLD and Victoria.
In late 2008, a swing stage scaffold malfunctioned and fell in Queensland, causing a double fatality. In early 2009, a prefabricated scaffold collapsed in Victoria, while scaffolding nearly collapsed in the middle of the Sydney CBD.