TG21:20

A Guide to Commissioning Scaffold Design

INTRODUCTION

This guide is intended to aid those who commission scaffold designs and assist with the preparation of
information required by the Designer to enable him or her to produce a suitable and sufficient design. This is
usually in the form of a drawing and supporting calculations and is used to facilitate the prospective scaffold or
structure to be appropriately constructed.

This guide should also be read in conjunction with NASC guidance document ‘CG6 – Scaffolding Design’, which
specifies the process for establishing the competence of the person or persons who produce bespoke designs
(as required by the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations). This document also specifies the
types of structures which will require bespoke design and outlines some practical and contractual issues which
may arise.

The Work at Height Regulations state that ‘strength and stability calculations shall be carried out for every
scaffold unless … it is assembled in conformity with a generally recognised standard configuration’.

This obligation can be met by:-

1. Producing an applicable NASC TG20 compliance sheet for tube and fitting scaffolds.
2. Constructing system scaffolds in conformity with a recognised standard configuration contained with the
manufacturer’s instruction manual or other guidance.
3. A ‘bespoke’ design produced by a competent person, to ensure that the structure will have adequate
strength, rigidity and stability throughout the erection, usage and dismantling phases of the job.

Note: certain organisations/authorities may specifically request that bespoke designs are also required for
items 1 and 2 above also. (e.g. Network Rail, London Underground, Highways England, etc).

Definitions

Client: The individual or organisation procuring the scaffold, who may be a building contractor, a
principal contractor, a temporary works coordinator or the ultimate project client/site owner.
Whilst they may appoint others to carry out work on their behalf (e.g. a Commissioner)
this does not absolve them from their legal duties under relevant legislation.

Commissioner: The individual or organisation, who commissions the design, whether for profit or not and
may (or may not) also represent the Client. In some instances the Client may also act as
the commissioner.

Designer: An individual or organisation whose work involves preparing or modifying designs for
construction projects, or arranging for, or instructing, others to do this. For the purposes
of this document, Designers will usually be in-house or external consulting engineers, but

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 it is worth pointing out that under the CDM regulations any person who specifies and/or
alters a design as part of their work is also considered a Designer, which could include
quantity surveyors, supervisors and scaffolders.

Competent Person: One with sufficient knowledge and experience of the specific tasks to be undertaken and
the risks which the work will involve, and sufficient ability to enable him or her to carry
out his or her duties in relation to the project, to recognise his or her limitations, and to
take appropriate action in order to prevent harm to scaffolding operatives, the general
workforce or others who may be affected or to prevent damage to property, plant or
equipment.

Temporary Works Person with responsibility for the co-ordination of all activities related to the temporary
Coordinator: works to ensure that it is allocated and carried out in a manner that does not create
unacceptable risks.

Selecting a Designer

The Commissioner of the design must ensure that the prospective Designer has sufficient competence through
knowledge, experience and/or appropriate qualification to enable the task to be suitably completed.

The Commissioner shall ensure that the prospective Designer has appropriate insurance in place for the whole
contract term.

Designers must be able to demonstrate to the Commissioner that they have the technical and health and safety
skills, knowledge and experience (SKE), and where they are an organisation, the organisational capability, to
carry out the work for which they are being appointed. The level of SKE required should be proportionate to
the complexity of the project and the range and nature of the risks involved.

Please refer to NASC guidance document CG6 ‘Scaffold Design’ for further details.

Design Brief

Appropriate, safe and effective design requires sufficient information to be provided to the Designer in the
form of a ‘design brief’. Prior to preparing a design brief, the Commissioner must ensure that he has a full
understanding of the scope and requirements of temporary works in question.

Typical details to be provided to the Designer should include:

• Client details including contact information.
• The site location/address.
• The type and purpose of the structure required, including any plant or equipment which may be required
to be loaded or used on it.
• Proposed materials/equipment to be used for construction of the scaffold (i.e. tube and fittings, system
scaffolding, prefabricated beams) if applicable.
• Proposed erection and dismantling dates.
• Dimensions of scaffold and any critical clearances etc.
• Number of boarded lifts.
• Required imposed loadings (i.e. duty and number of working lifts required at any one time).
• Any requirements for loading, transfer or storage of materials. This should include the size and weight of
packages or equipment, method of loading (e.g. crane, forklift, hoist) and the need for any loading bays
etc.

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 • Any special requirements for access/egress (e.g. ladder bays, staircases, hoists, number and location of
access/egress points etc.)
• Emergency and evacuation requirements.
• Any requirements for cladding or weather protection (impermeable sheeting, debris netting, brick guards).
• Special decking requirements (e.g. plywood, metal or plastic sheeting, covering of gaps, anti-slip surface).
• Details of foundations, supporting structures and facilities for tying.
• Environmental impacts (wind, waves and snow).
• Specific requirements such as bridging and openings for vehicle or pedestrian access.
• Site hazards, such as nearby vehicle routes, public access, evacuation routes etc.
• Any hidden hazards (such as asbestos, vibration, heat, fumes, chemicals, electrical conductors) which
may create risks for scaffolding operatives, the general workforce or others.
• Any critical sequences of work.
• Requirements of local or national authorities (e.g. pavement licences, rail permits, waterway clearances
etc.)
• Any specific client requirements related to design codes or third-party approval.
• Required supporting information, drawings, sketches, photographs etc. where possible.

Please note that this is not an exhaustive list and may vary dependent on the type and purpose or the structure
required.

Contract

Dependent on the information included within the design brief and the complexity of the structure required,
where feasible, the Designer is encouraged to visit the site to:
• Fully understand the specification of the structure or details of the project.
• Gather any additional information, confirm dimensions etc. required to produce the design.
• In consultation with the Commissioner or the Client, take the opportunity to confirm and/or amend the
design brief.

Where appropriate, construction drawings and project specifications should be provided in a format to suit the
prospective parties.

Other contract considerations may include additional design costs and delays to be incurred by revisions to
design brief and periodic follow up site inspections.

Design output

Preliminary Sketch
This may be produced at an early stage of the design process as an outline of the proposal for discussion and
approval.

Through the design process, the Designer has a duty to eliminate, reduce or control foreseeable risks’. Where
it is not possible to totally eliminate the risks, the Designer must take practical steps to reduce or control
them and provide suitable information about any remaining risks (usually via the design drawing or other
documentation) to other dutyholders.

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Design Drawings
Should be site-specific and should include:
• Sufficient information/illustration and dimensions for the structure to be safely erected.
• A specification of materials to be used for construction.
• Maximum allowable imposed loading.
• Details of any additional assumed loadings.
• Details of foundation and tie loads.
• Details of any essential or complex connections & tying details.
• Details of any critical sequencing and erection requirements.
• All relevant notes and assumptions.
• Indications of any residual design risk(s).
• The status of the drawing (Preliminary, For Approval, For Construction).
• Names (or initials) of the Designer and Checker (including dates).

Any information essential to ensure safe and accurate construction, together with details of any residual risks
may also be used to form part of the assembly, use and dismantling plan.

Supporting Calculations
This document should demonstrate the strength and stability of the temporary works and define any additional
loads imposed on the foundations and the permanent works. (This may also be detailed on the design drawing,
as mentioned above).

The calculations should be specifically referenced to the design drawing(s).

Checking/ Audit process

The checking category to be applied to individual designs may be determined by the Principal Contractor, the
Temporary Works Coordinator, the Client or the Designer.

Each design shall be subject to ‘checking’ by a suitably competent person to ensure that:
• All applicable standards have been appropriately applied.
• It conforms with the design brief and can be expected to provide a safe engineered solution.
• Any intermediate construction stages have been detailed.
• The design drawing (or other documentation) contains clear and sufficient and information to facilitate safe
erection and dismantling of the structure.

This process will also involve an arithmetical check of the supporting calculations.

The categories of the design and the independence of the person designated to check it are specified in
Appendix A below.

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 Responsibilities

Having received a copy of the final design documentation, the Commissioner and the Client should ensure that
it satisfies the requirements of the design brief and remains appropriate to the work to be undertaken.

The Client is responsible for ensuring that the foundations/permanent works are adequate to support the
additional loads imposed by the temporary works. In the case of vertically imposed loads, the Client is
responsible for the foundation below the scaffold baseplate or the adequacy of the supporting structure.

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 APPENDIX A – Categories of design check

Category Scope Comment Independence of Checker

0 Restricted to standard This applies to the use of Because this is a site issue,
solutions only, to ensure standard solutions and not the check may be carried
the site conditions do not the original design, which out by another member of
conflict with the scope or will require both structural the site or design team.
limitations of the chosen calculation and checking
standard solution. to category 1, 2 or 3, as
appropriate.

1 For simple designs. Such designs would be The check may be carried
undertaken using simple out by another member of
methods of analysis and the design team.
be in accordance with
the relevant standards,
supplier’s technical
literature or other reference
publications.

2 On more complex or Category 2 checks would The check should be

involved designs. include designs where a carried out by an individual
considerable degree of not involved in the design
interpretation of information and not consulted by the
is required. designer.

3 For complex or innovative These designs include The check should be

designs, which result in unusual designs or where carried out by another
complex sequences of significant departures from organisation.
moving and/or construction standards, novel methods
of either the temporary of analysis or considerable
works or permanent works. exercise of engineering
judgement are involved.

Note: Some organisations/authorities (e.g. Network Rail, London Underground, Highways England, etc) may
specify other checking criteria.

References, Further Reading and Guidance

British Standards
BS 5975 Code of practice for temporary works procedures and the permissible stress design of falsework.

National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC) Publications

CG6 Scaffold Design
TG20 Operational Guide. A comprehensive guide to good practice for tube and fitting scaffolding
TG20 Design Guide. Technical guidance on the use of BS EN 12811-1
SG35 Handover of Scaffold Structures

Whilst every effort has been made to provide reliable and accurate information, we would welcome any corrections to information provided by the author which may
not be entirely accurate, therefore and for this reason, the NASC or indeed the author cannot accept any responsibility for any misinformation posted.

NASC NASC, 4th Floor, 12 Bridewell Place, London EC4V 6AP

Tel: 020 7822 7400 Fax: 020 7822 7401
enquiries@nasc.org.uk www.nasc.org.uk
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