From the Draft National Code of Practice for Working in the Vicinity of Overhead and Underground Electric Lines,
“A hoarding is containment sheeting positioned on the external face of a scaffold that serves as a physical barrier between a worker and energised overhead electric lines and associated electrical equipment.”
In consultation with the scaffolding contractor and a team of engineers, the project team from Arenco has designed, developed, tested, sort approval for and installed a fibreglass hoarding system as an alternative to using plywood.
Apart from the additional weight loading that a traditional plywood hoarding applies to the scaffold, there are increased manual handling risks, and potential issues associated with fixing the plywood sheets to a steel scaffold.
This fibreglass hoarding system is made up of a series of framed light-weight panels which are prefabricated off-site of non-conductive materials. These panels can easily be lifted and fixed into position by a team of workers using non-conductive coupler assemblies.
The project team indicated to the judges that this system has been tremendously successful and they will continue to use this system on future station projects.