When a scaffold must be inspected

Before it is used the first time. Regulation 12(2) says that where the safety of work equipment depends on how it was installed or assembled, it is not used after assembly in any position until it has been inspected in that position.[1]

HSE says the same thing about a scaffold in the trade's words: inspect it following installation and before first use.[7]

Then the seven days. Regulation 12(4) says a working platform used for construction work, from which a person could fall 2 metres or more, is not used in any position unless it has been inspected in that position, or on the site if it is a mobile one, within the previous 7 days.[1]

HSE puts it as a scaffold being inspected before it is used for the first time and then every 7 days, until it is removed.[6]

And after anything that could have affected it. Regulation 12(3) wants work equipment that is exposed to conditions causing deterioration inspected at suitable intervals, and each time exceptional circumstances liable to jeopardise its safety have happened.[1]

The examples HSE and NASC give for that are the ones a yard would give: adverse weather, a substantial alteration, high winds. NASC is the trade body and not the regulator, so its half of that is guidance and not law.[6][9]

Separately, and every single time, regulation 13 asks the employer so far as is reasonably practicable to check the surface and every parapet, permanent rail or other fall protection of a place of work at height on each occasion before the place is used.[3]

HSE's own table of timings marks that row report not required. It is a check, not the seven day inspection, and it does not stand in for one.[8]

Read regulation 12(4) again and notice what it is about. It does not say inspect every seven days. It says the platform is not to be used unless it was inspected within the previous 7 days. It is a gate on using the thing, not an entry in a diary.[1]

So the question on any morning is not whether an inspection is due. It is whether the last one was inside seven days. If it was not, nobody goes on it until somebody competent has been over it again. Our words

It cuts the other way too. A scaffold nobody has been near for a fortnight cannot be used on the strength of a fortnight old inspection, and while it stands out in the weather regulation 12(3) still wants inspection at suitable intervals.[1]

Working platform is defined wide in regulation 2. It covers any platform used as a place of work or to get to one, and it names scaffolds, suspended scaffolds, cradles, mobile platforms, trestles, gangways, gantries and stairways.[5]

NASC puts it plainly: making sure a scaffold has been inspected is the responsibility of the user or hirer. If they are competent they can inspect it themselves, or they can instruct a competent person to inspect it for them, and that person can be somebody in their own company, somebody working for the scaffolding contractor, or an outside third party. NASC also says who will carry out the inspections, and at which stage, should be made known at tender.[9]

HSE says the same, with no condition on it: it is the scaffold user's or hirer's responsibility to ensure that all scaffolding has been inspected.[7]

The regulations reach that way because of regulation 3(2). An employer's duties cover work done by his own employee and by any other person under his control, to the extent of his control. Control is the test, not whose name is on the tube.[4]

So the inspecting can be handed to somebody else, and the duty to make sure it was done does not go with it. On a scaffold you have hired out, settle who is doing the seven day inspections before the job starts, because it is the argument you do not want to be having after someone has fallen. If you are doing them, put it in writing, price it, and diary it. If you are not doing them, put that in writing too. Our words

Regulation 12(10) says an inspection means such visual or more rigorous inspection by a competent person as is appropriate for safety purposes, and that it includes any appropriate testing. The word competent is in the regulation itself.[1]

HSE says all scaffolding inspection should be carried out by a competent person whose combination of knowledge, training and experience is appropriate for the type and complexity of the scaffold being inspected.[6]

HSE names the routes to it: competence assessed under CISRS, or someone suitably experienced in scaffolding work who has had extra training under a recognised manufacturer or supplier scheme for the configuration they are inspecting. It also says a non-scaffolder who has been on a suitable scaffold inspection course and has the background experience, a site manager for instance, would be considered competent to inspect a basic scaffold.[6]

NASC recommends the inspection is done by somebody holding the relevant CISRS card who has the knowledge and experience the job needs.[9]

HSE's own test, in one line, is the experience, knowledge and appropriate qualifications to identify the risks that are present and decide what is needed to control them.[8]

And the instruction that goes with it: stop work if the inspection shows it is not safe to carry on.[8]

The result of any inspection under regulation 12 has to be recorded, and regulation 12(6) says that record is kept until the next inspection is recorded.[1]

For the scaffolds regulation 12(4) covers, construction work and a fall of 2 metres or more, there is a second duty. Regulation 12(7) says the person who carried out the inspection prepares a report containing the particulars set out in Schedule 7 before the end of the working period the inspection was finished in, and provides that report or a copy to the person it was carried out for within 24 hours.[1][2]

Regulation 12(8) says the employer who receives it keeps it at the site where the inspection was done until the construction work is completed, and after that at an office of his for 3 months.[1]

Below that line the report duty does not bite. A platform that is not used for construction work, or one nobody could fall 2 metres off, still needs the result of the inspection recorded under regulation 12(6), but there is no Schedule 7 report and no 24 hours. Work out which side of that line your scaffold is on before you decide what paperwork it needs.[1]

HSE publishes a suggested report form and says in the same breath that you do not have to use it. What matters is that the record holds the particulars.[8]

Nor does the report have to be kept on paper. Regulation 2(2) says keeping a report, or a copy of one, includes keeping it in a form that can be reproduced as a printed copy when required, and that is secure from loss or unauthorised interference. So a report held on a computer counts as kept, as long as it passes both of those.[5]

The eight particulars of Schedule 7

1. The name and address of the person the inspection was carried out for.
2. Where the work equipment that was inspected is.
3. What it is, described.
4. The date and the time of the inspection.
5. Anything found that could give rise to a risk to anybody's health or safety.
6. What was done about anything found.
7. Anything further that is considered necessary.
8. The name and position of the person making the report.

Put in the yard’s words so they are quick to work through on site. For the wording itself, read Schedule 7. legislation.gov.uk

A scaff tag is not the record. HSE calls a visible tag system one way of recording that the scaffold has been checked before use, to supplement the inspection records, and it is not something the law demands. The report still has to exist.[6]

A handover certificate is not demanded by the law either. NASC says there is currently no legal requirement to issue one when a scaffold is completed and handed over, recommends that contractors do, and says it should carry the details of the first inspection and be signed by both parties. Its guidance note SG35 covers handover and the first inspection.[9]

Two different jobs, and it is worth keeping them apart in your head. The handover says the scaffold is finished and whose it is now. The inspection report says somebody competent went over it on a day and what they found. Our words