National foreword

This British Standard is the official English language version of EN 12811‑1:2003. It supersedes BS 5973:1993 which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted by Technical Committee B/514, Access and support equipment, to Subcommittee B/514/21, Access and working scaffolds, which has the responsibility to:

aid enquirers to understand the text;
present to the responsible international/European committee any enquiries on the interpretation, or proposals for change, and keep the UK interests informed;
monitor related international and European developments and promulgate them in the UK.

A list of organizations represented on this subcommittee can be obtained on request to its secretary.

It is anticipated that CEN will issue a corrigendum to correct the following items:

in the key of Figure 5, line 3, “see Table 4” will read as “see Table 3”;
in Equation 10 the value “2,4M_B,d” will read as “2,0M_B,d”;
in Table C.1 the bending moment M_B,k in kN·m for class B, the value “2,4” will read as “1,4”;
in the title of Figure C.2, “and C” will be deleted.

EN 12811‑1:2003 is published with three national annexes. National annex NA gives general guidance on the use of this standard. National annex NB gives detailed information on the differences between this standard and BS 5973 (withdrawn). National annex NC discusses the aspects of structural design by limit state covered by this standard, but not considered in BS 5973 (withdrawn).

Cross-references

The British Standards which implement international or European publications referred to in this document may be found in the BSI Catalogue under the section entitled “International Standards Correspondence Index”, or by using the “Search” facility of the BSI Electronic Catalogue or of British Standards Online.

This publication does not purport to include all the necessary provisions of a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard does not of itself confer immunity from legal obligations.

Summary of pages

This document comprises a front cover, an inside front cover, the EN title page, pages 2 to 56, an inside back cover and a back cover.

The BSI copyright notice displayed in this document indicates when the document was last issued.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 16 June 2004

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 4 September 2003.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and United Kingdom.

Foreword

This document (EN 12811‑1:2003) has been prepared by Technical Committee CEN/TC 53 “Temporary works equipment”, the secretariat of which is held by DIN.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by June 2004, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by June 2004.

This European Standard is one of the package of standards listed below:

EN 12810‑1, Façade scaffolds made of prefabricated components - Part 1: Product specifications
EN 12810‑2, Façade scaffolds made of prefabricated components- Part 2: Particular methods of structural design
EN 12811‑1, Temporary works equipment – Part 1:– Scaffolds – Performance requirements and general design
prEN 12811‑2, Temporary works equipment.– Part 2: Information on materials
EN 12811‑3, Temporary works equipment – Part 3: Load testing

Annexes A and D are informative. Annexes B and C are normative.

This document includes a bibliography.

According to the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Introduction

The purpose of a working scaffold is to provide a safe place of work with safe access suitable for the work being done. This European Standard sets out performance requirements for working scaffolds. These are substantially independent of the materials of which the scaffold is made. The standard is intended to be used as the basis for enquiry and design.

As a number of options are given to suit different applications, a choice has to be made between the various alternatives within this European Standard. All other requirements could be in an associated job specification.

Based on these requirements, a set of rules can be drawn up for a particular type of equipment. These may be standard for general use, or specially prepared for a particular job.

This European Standard includes rules for structural design, which are of particular relevance to scaffolds made of certain materials.

For materials this standard refers only to valid EN standards. However a large stock of equipment made of materials conforming to standards no longer valid is in use. This standard does not cover the use of this equipment.

Because the dimensions of the working scaffold depend on the type of work and the method of execution, the corresponding national legal rules should be taken into account.

1 Scope

This European Standard specifies performance requirements and methods of structural and general design for access and working scaffolds, referred to from hereon as working scaffolds. Requirements given are for scaffold structures, which rely on the adjacent structures for stability. In general these requirements also apply to other types of working scaffolds. Normal requirements are set down, but there is also provision for special cases.

This European Standard also specifies structural design rules when certain materials are used and general rules for prefabricated equipment.

The standard excludes:

platforms suspended by ropes, whether fixed or movable;
horizontally movable platforms including Mobile Access Towers (MAT);
power-operated platforms;
scaffolds used as protection for roof work;
temporary roofs.

NOTE 1 Most working scaffolds are formed from prefabricated components or from tubes and couplers. Some examples of working scaffolds are façade scaffolds, static towers and birdcage scaffolds, but details are not given for all of these.

NOTE 2 Falsework and shoring may be made of the structural components described in this standard, but are not working scaffolds.

NOTE 3 Particular requirements for façade scaffolds made of prefabricated components are specified in EN 12810 -1 and EN 12810‑2.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Materials

4.1 General

4.2 Specific material requirements

5 General requirements

5.1 General

5.2 Width classes

5.3 Headroom

5.4 Working areas

5.5 Side protection

5.6 Cladding

5.7 Base plates and base jacks

5.8 Access between levels

6 Requirements for structural design

6.1 Basic requirements

6.2 Actions

6.3 Deflections

7 Product manual

8 Instruction manual

9 Work on site

9.1 Basic assumption

9.2 Actions on site

10 Structural design

10.1 Basic design principles

10.1.1 Introduction

Working scaffolds shall be designed for stability and serviceability. This includes load-bearing capacity and positional stability against sliding sideways, uplift and overturning. Unless otherwise stated in this clause, the European Standards for structural engineering shall be applied.

Concepts relate to the limit state method.

Global or detail testing may be carried out to supplement calculation. The testing shall be carried out in accordance with EN 12811‑3.

10.2 Structural analysis

10.3 Verification

10.4 Positional stability

Bibliography

National bibliography

BS EN 12811-1:2003

Temporary works equipment - Scaffolds. Performance requirements and general design

Current

Published:

16 Jun 2004