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Thinking about buying a scaffold tower?
Buying the wrong tower could result in a waste of investment. Or worse. Someone could experience a severe injury or even die.
So, let’s get it right the first time by learning the four factors that we cover in this scaffold tower buying guide.
Safety Standards is the Most Important Factor in this Scaffold Tower Buying Guide
First and foremost, you must buy a scaffold tower marked with “EN1004” or “BSEN1004.” This is a European standard that the UK continued to uphold following Brexit. Therefore, it’s a legal requirement that employers provide workers, including contractors, with a BSEN1004-marked scaffold tower. PASMA explains EN1004 in more detail.
You may wonder what the difference is between a mobile access tower marked EN1004 and one that isn’t. With regard to safety, the differences are stark.
Differences Between a Marked and Non-Marked Scaffold Tower
Work Platforms
Firstly, marked towers have purpose-built stable platforms with a safe trapdoor for entry and exit, whereas a non-marked tower uses loose scaffold boards or a DIY platform. The difference is that the loose board and DIY platform aren’t secure, which significantly increases the risk of falling.
Integrated Ladder
Secondly, marked towers have purpose-built access, like an integrated ladder or stairs. On the other hand, non-marked towers don’t, which requires workers to climb the frames or find other ways to access the unsecured, loose scaffolding boards.
Again, it significantly increases the risk of falling as workers ascend or descend the tower. With the integrated ladder on marked towers, workers climb from the inside of the frame, which can reduce the extent to which a worker can fall by reaching for other parts of the frame.
Stabilisers
Thirdly, marked towers are supplied with the correct size and number of stabilisers, compared to non-marked towers, which often don’t come with any at all. Stabilisers significantly increase the stability of scaffold towers as it increases the area coverage and even weight distribution.
Guardrails
Lastly, marked towers are supplied with guardrails, in the correct quantity, which are spaced according to the manufacturer. Non-marked towers have very few, if any, which makes falling as easy as stepping of a curb onto the road.
Steps to Ensure You Purchase a BSEN1004 Scaffold Tower
Before making the purchase, you should carefully read the description for the tower to understand whether or not it’s marked with BSEN1004 or EN1004. Having said that, some unscrupulous suppliers will lie.
So, thoroughly check their reviews. Some customers may have found out that the tower wasn’t marked later on and experienced significant fines.
At LEWIS Access, we’re the UK’s leading manufacturer and supplier of BSEN1004 scaffold towers, so save yourself the research and just buy it directly from a British manufacturer.
Quality Over Price
Most buyers will assume that a BSEN1004 marked mobile access tower is a sufficient definition of quality. While that stands true for the most part, there’s more to it. This includes the supplier or manufacturer’s reputation, the warranty, and customer support.
Manufacturer’s Reputation
Starting with the manufacturer’s reputation. It’s important that you review the feedback from customers across multiple platforms like Google Reviews and Trustpilot, for instance. What’s the overall feedback? Overwhelming positive, or alarmingly negative? Perhaps the supplier doesn’t have any reviews, or very few. How long have they been established. We began over 20 years ago in a garden shed.
Warranty Period
Moving onto the warranty period. Some suppliers and manufacturers will make bold claims about “lifetime warranty” or a “lifetime guarantee“. It’s often false because the term, i.e., how long is the lifetime, is never specified. For all buyers know is that it’s 1 year because the supplier or manufacturer doesn’t expect the mobile scaffold tower to last any longer.
At LEWIS Access, we have a 10 year warranty period. So, if there are any defects with our aluminium scaffold tower, we’ll repair it or replace it. This doesn’t include standard wear and tear, but spare parts can easily be purchased from our website.
Customer Support
Finally, let’s discuss customer support. To support you make the right decision, sometimes it’s very helpful to ask questions regarding a scaffold tower you’re thinking about buying. Likewise, once you’ve purchased it, you may have follow-up questions.
At LEWIS Access, we pride ourselves in the support we offer to potential, new and existing customers before, at the time and after buying an aluminium scaffold tower from us. But don’t take our word for it; read our reviews.
Intended Use
In August 2021, an employer hadn’t supplied the right size scaffold tower (it was too big for the space intended) for installing a roof light window. Consequently, it led to workers building their own makeshift tower, which resulted in a worker falling through the roof, and fracturing multiple bones in their back. The employer went on to be fined £12,000 due to breaching Regulation 4(1) of the Work at Height Regulations 2005. They also had legal costs to pay on top of this fine.
Access towers come in different sizes in terms of heights and widths. From single to double width and up to 8 metres for outdoor use and 12 metres for indoor use. Not only that, there’s a range of scaffold towers. These include 3T industrial, AGR, 250, Miniscaff Solo, Trade Folding and Lift Shaft Towers.
It can be a challenging decision to make with regard to choosing the perfect scaffold tower that’ll be versatile for your use cases. Whether that be for painting and decorating, installing air conditioning units, or live events. Going back to quality over price, call the manufacturer and ask for their advice. We’re more than happy to help.
British Manufacturing
Last but not least, you should choose a British brand that uses up-to-date manufacturing methods and high-quality aluminium that will not easily deteriorate. Not only will these towers be more likely than imported towers to comply with health and safety regulations, they’ll prove to be a trusted piece of access equipment that’ll protect your workers and members of the public. We’ve been manufacturing different types of portable scaffold towers since 2004, which makes LEWIS Access one of the most trusted brands on the market today.
Summary
We hope this scaffold tower buying guide has helped you to make the right decision. In summary, the four key areas to consider are whether the scaffold tower meets safety standards, prioritises quality over price, is suitable for the typical intended use, and is made by a British manufacturer. Above all, should you need any assistance, get in touch with our well-trained team, who can answer all of your questions.