DEVELOPMENT OF A RESEARCH PROGRAM FOR SCAFFOLDING STANDARDS
Abstract (summary)
Because of a marked awareness that a major portion of construction worker casualties are scaffolding related, the need was identified to improve scaffolding system performance and thereby reduce related injuries and losses. Under the auspices of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the Construction Safety Group of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) has embarked on a scaffolding research program to provide the necessary technical assistance for developing performance standards and design guidelines for scaffolds.
The NBS scaffolding research program is organized into several phases. Each phase consists of a series of inter-related studies which are outlined and discussed in the beginning portions of this paper. This paper describes the various problem areas that exist with construction scaffolding based on these studies and appendix A presents the major types of scaffolds under study.
The first study of the research program discussed is the analysis of scaffolding accidents and related employee casualties and its presented in consolidated form in appendix B. The second study discussed is the review of current scaffolding codes and standards and is presented in consolidated form in appendix C. Two concurrent studies have been performed and are presented in the major portions of this paper. These are a review and evaluation of the technical literature on scaffolding and a study and analysis of in-field scaffold loading practices.
Using the results of these first four studies, this paper presents a newly developed analytically based scaffolding research plan. This plan consists of key topics of recommended research and an approach by which this plan can be implemented is demonstrated through selective modeling of scaffolding systems by a finite element analysis. Appendix D presents samples of the input and output data for the scaffold structural analysis. Final conclusions and recommendations are then presented as to the direction of future scaffolding research.