PART I | Citation and commencement |
| 1. These Regulations may be cited as the Workplace Safety and Health (Scaffolds) Regulations 2011 and shall come into operation on 10th September 2011. |
2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —| “approved scaffold contractor” means any firm or company which is the holder of a valid certificate of approval; |
| “base plate”, in relation to a metal scaffold, means a plate for distributing the load from a standard; |
| “bay”, in relation to a scaffold, means the portion of the scaffold between vertical supports (whether standards or supports from which that portion is suspended) which are adjacent longitudinally; |
| “brace” or “bracing” means a member incorporated in a scaffold for stability; |
| “building under construction” means a building in respect of which building operations are carried on; |
| “certificate of approval” means the certificate of approval issued to an approved scaffold contractor by the Commissioner under regulation 58(1); |
| “climber” means a lifting equipment through which a suspension wire rope, the lower end of which is not anchored, passes and which is controlled either by friction grips or by turns of the rope around drums within the equipment; |
| “frame or modular scaffold” means a scaffold manufactured in such a way that the geometry of the scaffold is pre-determined and the relative spacings of the principal members are fixed; |
| “guard-rail” means a horizontal rail secured to uprights and erected along an open or exposed side of any structure to prevent persons from falling; |
| “hanging scaffold” means a scaffold suspended by means of lifting gear, ropes, chains or rigid members and not provided with means of raising or lowering by a lifting appliance or similar device; |
| “independent tied scaffold” means a scaffold, the work platform of which is supported from the base by 2 or more rows of standards and which, apart from the necessary ties, stands completely free of any building, ship or other structure; |
| “ledger” means a member which spans horizontally and ties a scaffold longitudinally, and which acts as a support for putlogs or transoms; |
“lift”, in relation to any scaffold, means —| (a) | the vertical distance between —| (i) | the base of a scaffold and its first ledger; or | | (ii) | any 2 consecutive ledgers; or |
| | (b) | any level at which a platform is constructed; |
|
| “outrigger” means a structure which projects beyond the facade of any building, ship or other structure with the inner end being anchored, and includes a cantilever or other support; |
| “professional engineer” means a person registered as a professional engineer under the Professional Engineers Act (Cap. 253); |
| “putlog” means a horizontal member on which the board, plank or decking of a work platform is laid; |
| “recognised testing body” means a testing body acceptable to the Commissioner; |
“responsible person”, in relation to any workplace in which a person carries out or is to carry out any work involving the construction, erection, installation, re-positioning, alteration, maintenance, repair or dismantling of a scaffold, means —| (a) | his employer; or | | (b) | the principal under whose direction he carries out or is to carry out any such work; |
|
| “reveal tie” means the assembly of a tie tube and a fitting used for tightening a tube between 2 opposing surfaces; |
| “right angle coupler” means a coupler, other than a swivel or putlog coupler, used for connecting tubes at right angles; |
“scaffold” means any temporary structure —| (a) | on or from which any person performs work in any workplace; or | | (b) | which enables any person to obtain access to or which enables any material to be taken to any place at which such work is performed, |
| and includes any suspended scaffold, hanging scaffold, tubular scaffold, trestle scaffold, work platform, gangway, run, ladder or step-ladder (other than an independent ladder or step-ladder which does not form part of such a structure) together with any guard-rail, toe-board or other safeguards and all fixings, but does not include a lifting appliance, a lifting machine or a structure used merely to support such an appliance or such a machine or to support other plant or equipment; |
|
| “scaffold erector” means a person who is involved in the construction, erection, installation, re-positioning, alteration, maintenance, repair or dismantling of a scaffold in a workplace; |
| “scaffold supervisor” means a person appointed as a scaffold supervisor by the responsible person under regulation 6; |
| “shipyard” means any premises in which ships are constructed, reconstructed, repaired, refitted, finished or broken up, and includes any dock, wharf, jetty or quay in or at which any ship is berthed; |
| “sole plate” means a member used to distribute the load from the base plate or the standard of a scaffold to the supporting surface; |
| “standard” means a member used as a vertical support or column in the construction of a scaffold which transmits a load to the ground or any other solid construction; |
| “suspended scaffold” means a scaffold suspended by means of ropes or chains and capable of being raised or lowered, but does not include a boatswain’s chair or other similar appliance; |
| “swivel coupler” means a coupler used to connect 2 tubes at any angle other than a right angle; |
| “tie” means an assembly used to connect a scaffold to a rigid anchorage; |
| “timber scaffold” means any scaffold which uses a timber roller as any of its member or component; |
| “toe-board” means a member fastened above a work platform or workplace to prevent persons or materials from falling from the work platform or workplace; |
| “transom” means a member placed horizontally and used to tie one ledger transversely to another, or one standard to another, in an independent tied scaffold; |
“trestle scaffold” means a scaffold in which the supports for the platform are any of the following which are self-supporting:| (a) | split heads; | | (b) | folding step-ladders; | | (c) | tripods; or | | (d) | other similar movable contrivances; |
|
| “tubular scaffold” means a scaffold constructed from tubes and couplers; |
| “work platform” means a platform which is used to support persons or materials, and includes a working stage. |
|
| 3. These Regulations shall apply to every workplace in which any scaffold is, is being or is to be constructed, erected, installed, used, re‑positioned, altered, maintained, repaired or dismantled, whether such work or use of the scaffold commences before, on or after 10th September 2011. |
|
