The most common mistake in the installation of temporary edge protection, is installing on the secondary false-work beam, when running in line with the protected edge. Nothing is holding this secondary beam to the structure, and a failure of the edge protection and the beam is an accident waiting to happen. I have at last realised the cause of this regular oversight on the part of the edge protection installers, and I recognise that I have been addressing the wrong group with training and inspection feedback.
The false-work designers are the cause, as they fail to include the “over-sail” of the primary beams on their drawing, laying the beams out to the lengths indicated and not accommodating the additional space needed to support the edge protection post clamps… (they also waste significant quantities of ply which needs notching around the clamps). The edge protection systems are all designed in a similar way, and if we can get this message across to those who draw the false-work layouts, we will solve the most common problem in the use of this equipment.
