Analysis of Construction Equipment Safety in Temporary Work at Height

AbstractTemporary work at height is one of the primary causes of construction accidents that result in serious injuries and fatalities. Many of these accidents occur because of falls from scaffolding and work platforms. In Europe, scaffolding equipment for temporary work at height is regulated by several directives. A directive is a legislative act of the European Union, which requires member states to achieve a particular result without dictating the means of achieving that result. In this sense, the European standard is of great interest because it facilitates compliance with the requirements of a directive regarding temporary work at height. This paper presents the results of a research study that was conducted in Spain between March 2003 and 2004, in which 146 construction sites were inspected with a view to examining the scaffolding surface at each site. The building sites with scaffolding that complied with a European standard were compared with those with older (nonstandard) scaffolding. Both types...