Scaffold types
What is a tube and fitting?
Tube and fitting is scaffold built from loose steel tubes joined by couplers at any position, rather than from prefabricated components with fixed connection points.
Use this diagram+
Free to use on your own site, in training material or in a course handout, as long as the credit link stays on it. Paste this where you want the diagram to appear.
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<img src="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk/glossary/tube-and-fitting/diagram.svg" alt="tube and fitting — scaffold diagram from ScaffoldOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk/glossary/tube-and-fitting">What is a tube and fitting?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://scaffoldoptix.co.uk">ScaffoldOptix</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>It is the traditional UK method and the one TG20 addresses. Because a coupler can go anywhere along a tube, it will follow any geometry a building presents.
That adaptability costs time and consistency. Every connection is made by hand and has to be torqued, and the fitting count on a large scaffold is substantial.
Tube to BS EN 39 and fittings to BS EN 74 are what make the method work: components from different suppliers interoperate because both conform to the same specification.
What goes wrong on site
- Mixing tube of unknown specification into a designed structure.
- Fittings not torqued, so the assumed performance is not there.
- Assuming the adaptability extends to configurations no compliance sheet covers.