advanced guardrail

Hello all,

I am a new member here. I was looking for additional info on the advanced guardrail as i am working on a couple op concepts as we speak. I am working for Harsco infrastructure (Holland) You can see some of our work at youtube. At this moment we developed two solutions. The first one is a lightweight frame which can be placed from a lower level to protect you when you ascend the next level. The second option is a pendulum frame that is a part of the scaffold. This system requires a greater investment because every bay receives one. (search for "harsco") or go to : YouTube - harsconl Channel
I appreciate serious replies.
Kind regards,

Ralph

Hi, Ralph, Welcome.

Interesting idea, the picture seems to indicate that obviously there is an inside ledger, but the advance guardrail stays in place and forms the outside ledger, I notice that at lift level there is no outside ledger, thats fine if your using omega transoms and steel battens there would be a big saving on materials and time, a problem could be that you have to access the overhead lift to tighten the cups, would that not be a problem with H/S regulations.

Just had another look at the picture and a thought struck me, Are these advanced guardrail/ledgers lightweight steel?, if so, would it not be better in terms of reducing the possible sway effect on the standards to connect a continuous line of ledgers at the bottom cups of the advanced guardrail/ledger, also acting as complete sway bracing on each bay.

You are correct. The guardrail stays in place. The ledgers at the outside are not needed because the alu / plastic decks are strong enough to resist all the forces (also the horizontal ones). Our revolutionary, patented system is built out of 4 main parts. The H-frame, alu / plastic decks, advanced guardrails and toe boards. Because al parts are lightweight and ergonomic to work with we reduced the building times significantly.
The system is in use in Holland at the moment and all users are very positive about it.
The use of the harness is no longer needed (Although the user is obligated to wear it.) and the ergonomic, lightweight components enable building speeds which are at least 2,5 times faster than working the traditional way. The system is designed to guarantee a 100% safe method of building and dismantling of the scaffold. The advanced guardrail is secured from the level underneath. The closing of the cups (one level higher) is only done to generate more stiffness in the system.
I feel this is the way to go forward.. Calculations and tests showed that the system (without face braces) is even stronger than building the traditional way.

Ralph, What is the system called, and what are the bay lenghts and widths.?. I was under the impression that it was a variation on Cuplock with the cups fixed at 1m intervals. Reliance on the decks to give it horizontal strenght would seem to reduce its effectiveness in the case of a top lift working platform only, though I suppose there is a face brace for that purpose. I realise this is a new product, but it seems to lack the versatility of its predecessor Cuplok at its present stage of development.

The system is called "cuplok" and the photo's show the use of the cuplok H-frame and our cuplok plastic decks.(standard 2,5m bays built on a steel cuplok base lift) This is a Duch product and is used here for many years with great success. The alu plastic decks are very strong and designed to take all the stress. If you need to place the ledger(s) at the lift level you can. The design of our patented AGR enables you to do so. The new advanced guardrail seriously reduces the building speed. It also guarantees a 100% safe working method. The AGR is designed to obligate the user to place it from al lower lift. Dismantling works the other way around. You need to take away the deck before you can take out the AGR. The AGR also works with our cuplok steel. If you check the link in my first message you will see 3 films on the right. The third one is an interview (Sorry in Dutch) about our 2 new revolutionary systems. Also there are pieces showing it's use on cuplok steel.

The system in the video used to be called cuplok 3000.
Back in the day when SGB was......ermm SGB , they imported another system into this country called sprint. It was a frame based system and it was very quick to erect and strip. The main drawback was it could only be erected in 2m lifts and because it had an in-built ladder and the frames were 2m high, you couldn't alter the lift heights.
Anyhoo, because it wasn't too popular, SGB decided to manufacture a transom that could be used on cuplok but used the sprint decks. They also made one piece double guardrails, end guardrails and special toeboards similar to ally tower toeboards.

It came in 0.8m, 1.5m, 2.0m, 2.5m & 3.0m bay lengths.

Right, you can all wake up now lads, trip down memory lane is over

Still got the sprint brochure here

Why haven't Harsco Uk adopted this?Got to be better than the stupid platform we're forced to use.Up and down all day like a pair of hoors drawers,my knees are f**ked!As usual,it will be down to cost,not our safety,that decides what happens.