Case Study - Interserve - Safety Decking

Delivering Innovation
Speedy Safety Decking in Action

Telford and Wrekin Council commissioned a £45m education facilities system, the Jigsaw Project, to provide a school and four residential homes for vulnerable youngsters.

The Challenge
The designs for the school roof specified traditional timber trusses and tiles, as opposed to a more conventional seamless roof. A raised access solution was
needed that allowed operatives to work safely and with full freedom of movement while guiding and fixing pre-made trusses into position.

Services, maintenance and building group Interserve was selected to carry out the works. The FTSE 250 company has an annual turnover of £1.7 billion and a workforce of 50,000 employees worldwide.

The Solution
With 40 to 50 lives lost on sites each year due to falls from height, this is a major issue for the construction industry.

On this project, scaffolding and boards could have been used to create a birdcage scaffold, but due to the large area and multiple room sizes, the boards would have had to be cut to size, adding significant time and cost to the job. Airbags were also considered, but this option was rejected as they are not intended to provide a safe platform from which to work. Speedy therefore recommended the Reynolds Systems — a unique, purpose-designed working platform that creates a safe environment when working at height.

Speedy Safety Decking allows the user to create a bridge to fill any gaps that are smaller than the standard decking
platform, to accommodate different room sizes. Once erected, it covered approximately 1400sq metres. Speedy also trained three of the Interserve site workers on how to use the equipment. The HAE accredited course includes full health and safety information and training on how to erect, dismantle and store the product.

Phil Emery, occupational safety and health instructor, at Speedy said: "Speedy is committed to health and safety in the construction industry. It is easy to assemble, it's adaptable to fit any room profile, it allows full freedom of movement and it meets the requirements of the latest working at height regulations."

Keith Hawkes, site manager at Interserve said: "The fall prevention system was very straightforward to use – there are only four components. Although the product was slightly more expensive than other options considered, the value offered through increased productivity and efficiency more than compensated. Storage and handling was not an issue as the product is light enough to be carried and it can be easily stacked."

While the product was initially selected to help position the timber trusses for the roof, it remained in place until the end of the first fix. The bricklayers used the working platform to install wall plates and, instead of waiting for scaffolding to be removed and erecting aluminium towers, Interserve's engineering division used the platform to lay cable trays and complete all plumbing and heating.