Towers must be inspected after assembly and before first use. But just because a tower was stable and structurally sound before it was first used, doesn’t mean it will stay that way. For that reason, you need to re-inspect the tower as often as is necessary to ensure safety. So, what does that mean in practice? Here are some rules to remember:
Inspect your tower:
- After assembly
- After alteration
- After any event that could affect safety
- At least every seven days
Remember, it’s up to you to decide how often to inspect a tower, it will depend on the frequency and conditions of use. This is down to the individual risk assessment. For example, if you’re using a tower outdoors in winter or in a high-risk environment, you might decide to inspect it more frequently.
It’s important that the person who does the inspection knows what a good tower looks like. In other words, they need to be competent to complete an inspection with the training, skills, knowledge and experience needed for the job. Tower inspections are quite simple to do, with the right training. They’re modular, lightweight structures that come with instruction manuals.
A visual inspection from the ground is all that’s needed to determine if a tower is safe to use or not. There’s no need to physically inspect the fittings after the tower is assembled, although you should inspect the individual components prior to assembly.
Training
You can learn to build and inspect standard single bay mobile access towers on a PASMA Towers for Users course.
To build and inspect other configurations of towers, such as cantilever or linked towers, or low-level access products, there are separate, dedicated PASMA course for these.
Managers and supervisors can learn to inspect any standard configuration tower on a PASMA Towers for Managers course, aimed at anyone who is responsible for the safety of tower users but isn’t assembling towers themselves. It doesn’t matter if a tower is inspected by the same person who assembled it or by someone else. They key thing is that they’ve been trained on how to complete inspection.
For more information on PASMA training courses visit www.skywardtraining.co.uk and take a look at our PASMA training sections or give us a call on 01708 361430 and one of our experienced team can answer any questions you may have.
