Inspections & Handover.
Seven-day inspections, handover certificates and tags — what has to be recorded, and when.
Scaffolds standing over Christmas: wind, storms and an empty site
A structure left up over the shutdown is exposed to the worst weather of the year with nobody on site to look at it. What has to happen before you lock the gate, and before anybody climbs it again.
1 September 2026 · 4 min readHandover certificates and tags: getting the paperwork to match the scaffold
A tag says the scaffold is safe to use. A certificate says what was handed over, to whom, and to what loading. They should never disagree — and on plenty of sites they do.
25 August 2026 · 4 min readSeven-day scaffold inspections: what the regulations actually require
Before first use, after anything that could affect stability, and at intervals not exceeding seven days. What that means in practice, and what has to end up in writing.
7 July 2026 · 4 min readStriking a scaffold: where dismantling goes wrong
Dismantling is erection in reverse with two differences — the structure is degrading as you work, and everyone assumes the job is nearly over.
30 June 2026 · 4 min readKeeping a register of what is actually standing
Without a register of structures you are not inspecting a site — you are inspecting whatever somebody remembered was there.
27 May 2026 · 4 min readInspecting a scaffold after high winds or bad weather
Weather-triggered inspections are the ones most often skipped, because they arrive unscheduled and usually find nothing.
22 April 2026 · 4 min readAn inspection found a defect. What happens now?
The risky moment is not finding the defect. It is the handoff between noticing it and somebody owning the work to put it right.
18 March 2026 · 4 min readWhat a scaffold inspection report should record
A report saying an inspection happened proves attendance. What makes it evidence is recording what was checked — including the parts that were fine.
17 February 2026 · 4 min readTies and anchors: testing, recording and what goes wrong
A tie is only as good as what it is fixed into, and the substrate is the one variable a drawing cannot know in advance.
10 February 2026 · 4 min readWho is actually competent to inspect a scaffold?
Competence is specific to the structure in front of you, not a general status — and that is where most inspection arrangements quietly go wrong.