Aluminium mobile scaffold tower: outriggers, castors and safe assembly

“I left the outriggers in the van, it was only four metres high anyway.” It's the sentence I hear most often, and it usually arrives together with a mobile scaffold tower with a bent upright. The tower is stable as it was designed: take a piece away and it no longer is.

Working height and platform height

When you ask me for “a six-metre tower” I have to work out whether you mean the height of the platform or the height at which you work with your hands, which is higher. Clarify that and you are already halfway to the choice. Then look at the space: a wide base is more stable but won't go through doors, a narrow one fits anywhere but needs more care with the outriggers.

The Svelt range in the collection has models for very different uses: small and light ones for indoors, professional ones for site work, versions for stairs, for balconies, for lift shafts, and fibreglass models for those who work near electrical installations. The reference standard for mobile towers is EN 1004: check that the model states it and keep the manual together with the tower.

Outriggers and wheels

Outriggers are fitted when the manual requires them for that height, and almost always it does. They must be opened out and rest firmly on the ground, not left hanging a finger's width above the floor. The wheels must all be braked before you climb, and on soft ground you need base plates or spreader boards: a wheel that sinks into a flower bed tilts the whole thing.

Move it empty, always

A tower on wheels is moved with nobody on it and with no material on the platform. I know that climbing down and back up ten times a day is a nuisance, but it is precisely when it is moved with someone on it that it tips over, usually when a wheel meets a cable or a step. The same goes for outdoors: in wind the tower becomes a sail, and the manual states when to stop and when to tie it back.

Assembly follows a sequence

Every model has its own assembly sequence, and it must be followed. The steps I see skipped most often:

• diagonal and horizontal braces fitted halfway, “it's standing up anyway”;
• guardrails fitted only on the top level, or on two sides;
• toe board forgotten;
• climbing up the outside instead of by the internal ladder or through the hatches;
• ladders, crates or buckets placed on the platform to reach higher.

Some models let you fit the guardrails of the upper level while standing on the level below, already protected: if you assemble and dismantle the tower often, it is worth bearing that in mind when you choose.

Checks and care

Aluminium doesn't rust but it dents. A crushed upright, a locking hook that doesn't snap shut, a wheel with a brake that doesn't hold: these are parts to replace with original spares, not to patch up. When transporting, use a rack or strap them down properly, because most of the damage happens in the van.

What I need to know

• The height you need to work at with your hands.
• Indoors or outdoors, and what type of floor or ground.
• Width of the passages you have to get through.
• Whether you work near electrical installations, on stairs or in unusual spaces.

From there I will suggest two or three models at most, and explain the real difference between them.

We have these in the shop

A few items from the range we stock. If you can't find the size or model you need, just ask: what you see online is only part of what we can get for you.

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