Bristol Traffic: Adventures in the <b>scaffolding</b> trade

Cycling down from Kingsland Road bridge, one can often see two fully laden scaffold trucks skillfully parked on double-yellow lines close to the junction with Sussex Street providing passing cyclists and drivers with an interesting and fun hazard to negotiate as they start the working day. In fact, this newly-assimilated length of pavement..er, sorry..truck stop... is becoming somewhat of a mecca to the scaffolding trade often attracting various species of scaffolder to the cafe across the street. Here we can see King Scaffolding occupying their traditional spot and they are often joined by Northgate Scaffolding for a bacon butty and a cuppa. Oddly enough, they don't seem to be using the rest of the road and pavement leading up to the brow of the hill, which could provide extra parking for the rest of the fleet.
Now, the scaffolding trade is a high risk occupation and health & safety are paramount. After all, you don't want your scaffolding to collapse due to a faulty joint, maybe in high winds, or anyone to fall off it. Scaffolders have to be focused, dedicated and follow those method statements and risk assessments to the letter. But when it comes to road safety, it's Bristol, so the couldn't-give-a-damn rule applies as usual. After all, there's a cuppa waiting across the street....

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Synergy Aluminium Scaffolding Tower

<b>Scaffolding</b> collapse backs up traffic on Ohio exit - Chicago <b>...</b>

Michael Fox, chief of Special Operations for the Chicago Fire Department, said more than 50 firefighters worked to save the two men, one of whom was pinned against the building, and a second who managed to climb on top of the building.
"We just don't know how he did it," Fox said of the worker who climbed on top of the building, where the men had been doing masonry work.

Fox said at about 11 a.m., the department received a call that scaffolding had collapsed, and a man was trapped. Rescue workers found one of the men hanging on the side of the roof of the building, 320 W. Ohio St. The man's arm appeared to be trapped underneath a piece of scaffolding and his feet were resting on a piece of the building under renovation.

Fox said workers at a neighboring building under construction allowed firefighters to use their crane to help rescue the men. It took firefighters more than an hour to free the pinned man, and the men were given intravenous fluids and oxygen while rescue personnel worked.

The man who had been trapped was bloodied and his head bandaged, but the worker appeared to give a thumbs up sign to media members who gathered next to the building.

Both workers suffered significant blood loss and major head trauma, Fox said. Both were taken to Northwestern Memorial, he said. He said he did not know the men's ages or names. Fox said the cause of the collapse is under investigation.

"We do this quite often," Fox said of scaffolding rescues. "There's a lot of scaffolding in this city."

A large crowd gathered to watch the rescue, as the incident caused major traffic backups along the Ohio feeder ramp to the Kennedy Expressway. All traffic coming in on the feeder ramp was being sent on to Orleans Street.

Parts of the collapsed scaffolding remained hanging from the side of the office building, identified as The Adlake Building.

Emily S. Achenbaum, Dan Blake and Azam Ahmed, Chicago Tribune

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Synergy Aluminium Scaffolding Tower