Protecting scaffold tower users from coronavirus

The industry body has offered its advice on the challenges being faced by those responsible for the health and safety of tower users as they plan a return to work. In a new guidance document released free-of-charge to the industry, PASMA delves into issues such as how long the virus lasts on aluminium, how rescue plans will be affected and how workers can avoid passing instruction manuals around.

Importantly, they recommend ways to assemble a tower while keeping your distance from everyone else, suggesting that the most reliable method could be buying or hiring one-person towers, which are specially designed to be built and dismantled by one individual working alone.

As PASMA training starts to resume in some areas, they have also addressed the need for people to be protected from coronavirus during their course. They remind us of the importance of PASMA training and reassure managers of the protective measures they can expect to be in place during a course, from e-learning to increased hygiene and cleaning. They also explain how PASMA cardholders can get an extension if their qualification is due to expire before it's safe for them to visit a training centre.

Roger Verallo, PASMA Chairman and Managing Director of Euro Towers, commented: "Keeping tower users safe now means protecting them from coronavirus as well as falls and other injuries. Businesses are facing the unprecedented challenge of getting people safely back to work during a pandemic. Scaffold towers are only a small part of what they've got to consider, but scaffold towers are what PASMA knows best. We realised we could use our expertise to support all those whose workers will be heading back up towers and need to ensure every safety angle is covered."

Read PASMA's guidance on keeping scaffold tower users safe during the coronavirus outbreak: https://pasma.co.uk/covid-19/keeping-scaffold-tower-users-safe-during-coronavirus-outbreak/