Scaffolding Editing and Proofreading Services

A scaffold is handed over on Monday. By Thursday a plumber has taken out a transom to get a pipe through, somebody has loaded three pallets of blocks onto a lift designed for one, and the tie into the render has come loose. Nobody set out to make it dangerous. The scaffold changed, and the only thing that could have caught it was a piece of paper on the ladder and an inspection somebody was supposed to do.

We edit what scaffolding contractors produce — handover certificates and their limitations, scaffold tags and their wording, inspection registers and inspection reports, design briefs and design documentation for non-standard scaffolds, loading class and permitted use documentation, alteration and permit procedures, erection and dismantling method statements, ties, anchors and testing records, sheeting and netting documentation, access and public protection documentation, and client-facing guidance on using a scaffold safely. Our editors work on the certificate that says what the scaffold is for.

The handover certificate and its tag are what stand between a scaffold and its misuse, and their failure is confirming completion rather than stating limits. A certificate saying the scaffold has been erected in accordance with the design and is fit for use has told the user nothing they need. We work through these so the permitted loading is stated in the terms the user works in — how many bricks or blocks per bay, not just a loading class letter — since nobody standing on a lift with a pallet converts kN/m² in their head; so the number of lifts that may be loaded simultaneously is stated, because this is the limit most often exceeded and least often known; so the scaffold's intended purpose is named along with what it is not for, given that a scaffold designed for access being used for a hoist tie or a debris chute is a different structure; so the alteration rule is written as an instruction with a name and a number, and the tag carries it, as the alteration is what actually causes collapses; so the inspection regime is stated with dates rather than intervals, and the register is left on site rather than in an office; so the specific things that must not be removed are named, particularly ties and braces; and so the certificate says what the scaffold does not include — no edge protection to the roof, no loading bay, no public protection fan. Certificates written this way survive contact with the other trades.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including designs, certificates and site documentation. We are editors rather than scaffold designers or inspectors, and we offer no view on design, loading, inspection or safety. What we can do is make the certificate say what the scaffold is and is not for.