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AUGUST 2018 | 45 PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY LAYHER INC. New regulations and greater opportunities for the scaffold sector by ROBIN BRUNET S trictly in terms of growth, the scaffold- ing industry in Canada is huge business, with the top suppliers such as Alumna Systems, Layher, Tractel, Peri Formwork Systems Inc., and many others consis- tently improving their products and finding new ways to keep workers safe. But as with anything in the construction industry, products are only as effective as the planning that goes into their use, and one perpetual challenge in the scaffold industry is that requirements for scaffold erection and inspection can be overlooked. The most notorious outcome of this in Canada made headlines once again in January of this year, when Vadim Kazenelson, a Toronto supervisor who had been given a three-and-a-half year jail sentence for failing to prevent a 2009 scaffold collapse that killed four men, was denied a hearing by Ontario's Court of Appeal. The fallout of this single case may not have solved all safety issues associated with the scaffold indus- try, but it has inspired – either directly or indirectly – new regulations intended to make working from heights safer. "Last year the CSA Group replaced the old two-to-one safety factor requirement with a four- to-one factor, meaning a product must be able to withstand four times the tolerance of its maximum stated operating limit," says Paul Tomei, a partner at Bogdonov Pao Associates Ltd. As a result, many suppliers are either re-tooling or abandoning their product lines. As consulting engineers, Bogdonov Pao is uniquely positioned with two distinct divisions: construction engineering services, and structural design for new buildings. Currently the company is the engineer of record for the planned demolition of the 43-storey Empire Landmark Hotel in Vancouver (it will be dis- mantled using remote controlled Brokk technology featuring a track-mounted concrete crusher and mast climbers with temporary scaffolding that starts at the top and works its way down, floor by floor); it is also in the final stages of performing seismic upgrades on the Ruskin Dam and powerhouse, a project Tomei says "has obliged us to create the scaffold design, shoring, and rigging as well as construction administration." In the swing stage realm, the 2009 Ontario scaf- fold collapse has led to new regulations for capacity and loading. Steve Gallagher, marketing manager for Tractel Ltd., says, "Basically the platforms must be smaller, and the regulations pertain to intermediate as well as end stirrups, which obliged us to create a new instruction manual for the stages." Tractel's first success was achieved generations ago, when it acquired a license for the Griphoist, a pulling and lifting system that operates with a wire rope passing through the machine. Since then, the company's penchant for innovation has been con- stant and enabled it in the 1990s to enter the market for PPE height safety equipment, becoming a world leader in this field. In terms of temporary suspended access, Tractel's quality of design and construction is a company hallmark, for example: the Skysafe modular and knockdown suspended scaffolding provides a sta- ble, secure platform for any high-rise work. As for the standard Skysafe rigid platforms, they are designed with full fall protection, including vertical fall protec- tion for safe movement between levels and horizontal trolley lines on each level. Skysafe is the only multi- level platform that provides such fall protection. Mark Kondratski, Western Canada sales and branch manager for Layher Scaffolding Inc., says his company is "incredibly busy in 2018 internationally, with record production from our ever-expanding fac- tory in Germany, and there are lots of opportunities for us in Canada's commercial sector." As the leading scaffolding manufacturer and dealer of scaffold products in the world, Layher is con- stantly looking for ways to improve scaffold systems. "For example, thanks to the use of higher quality steel, we've been able to reduce the weight of our Allround ring lock system by going to a thinner wall, while maintaining or increasing strength," says Kondratski. He is referring to Layher Allround Scaffolding, the industry standard for modular scaffolding thanks to its unparalleled assembly speed due to its low weight and greater possibilities created by its inno- vative accessories. Kondratski also notes that Layher's SpeedyScaf scaffolding "is gaining traction in Canada as a facade scaffolding, because it's much better than typical frame and brace systems due to speed of erection – which results in a labour savings of up to 30 percent." Kondratski believes that a new Layher scaf- fold of a different kind has the potential to take the cross lamination timber market in Canada by storm, because "in very simple terms our Keder XL roof enclosure system can be integrated with mast climb- ers to allow it to rise as the building it is protecting grows taller. Layher has been very successful with this approach in Sweden where the mass timber market is further developed." Finally, Peri Formwork Systems Inc. proves that in the scaffolding industry, size really does matter in terms of the sheer variety of solutions it can pro- vide. For example, for the Stantec Tower, which is part of Edmonton's new ICE District, Peri provided a wide range of products, including Trio, Vario Gt24, Skydeck, Skytable, Peri Up, and Multiprop. For safety, the upper working floors of the building's perimeter were enclosed with RCS folding protection panels, which were used to avoid the risk of falling debris, while at the same time protecting workers from adverse weather conditions. A Reach New Heights Scaold Facade scaffolding placed on wall brackets, Hamburg, Germany, Circular scaffolding with SpeedyScaf, Stuttgart, Germany.

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