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PDO has recently recorded a number of serious incidents related to slips, trips and falls. The competence of workers, engaged in working at height activities, particularly on scaffolding, has been a challenge for many years.
Since the introduction of the PDO Specification SP1257 in 2002 PDO has strived to improve the industry standard. The Company has worked closely with local and international training providers to develop more competent workers. PDO continues to promote safer methods. The launch of the Life Saving Rules in 2009, which incorporate rules on working near open edges and fall protection equipment, further underlines the commitment to achieve improved working conditions.
PDO has now begun to witness a step change in the standards of scaffolding and other working-at-height activities. This change, as the delivery dates suggest, has not been easy.
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PDO has supported safe scaffold erection and inspection training for a long period of time. However, contractors were unable to meet expectations of the challenging accredited training requirements
Nevertheless, PDO has stuck to the industry standards and through many months of re-writing of specifications, industry and other stakeholder engagement workshops and visits to training sites, PDO has arrived at a new specification. However, it is not just the re-write of the specification that has driven the change. The document, simplified with many pictorials to assist the reader, has been just the ‘kick-start’ to underwrite the implementation of the new working at height standards to ensure it does not stall again. In summary, the accredited training has not changed and the fundamentals for safe scaffold working are the same. However, we have provided options for accredited training and this has been developed hand-in-hand with contractors and training providers.
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