08.04.2014

The good, the bad and the ugly

A reader in South East Asia has sent us a series of photos which show two contractors working on the same job with completely contrasting methods of working at height and notions of what constitutes safety.

On the one hand you have a contractor making use of the well suited equipment - in the form of an 80ft JLG 800A articulating boom lift working in conjunction with a crane - to carry out the job in a safe and efficient manner.
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The good...

On the other, a contractor working in a way that leaves much to be desired. The next two photos are of two men being lifted to the work area using the crane hook, and a man riding a large concrete piece up to the top of the steel construction.
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The bad...

The final photo is possibly one of the worst home-made man platforms that we have ever come across. Lashed together with scaffold poles and narrow planks for wood, the crane is seen lifting a man in the ‘platform’ at a height of approximately seven metres. As if this was not bad enough it looks as though the makeshift platform has been designed to lift up to six or seven people...
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...And the ugly!

How both contractors can work side by side without one highlighting the obvious dangers of the others methods or the other not realising the benefits of working more efficiently is a mystery.

In the words of our reader: “The irony here is that the two contractors working on the steel erection side by side had totally different approaches to the method used to erect the steel. One contractor working on the opposite structure were using a 125ft and 86ft boom with a crane while as you can see from the photos, the other contractor was using ‘another’ method. South East Asia has come along by leaps and bounds in terms of safety and its use of aerial work platforms over the last few years. However these photos demonstrate the extremes that can still be found, even while working on the same site right next to one another!”

Completely agreed and certainly one for our Death Wish!
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A closer look at the home-made man platforms