Scaffolding
USAAustralia Scaffolding
Scaffold Industry News
Australia's scaffolding industry has benefited from an ingenious device created by Robert Miles. Miles, an Australian native from Kambah, suburb of Canberra, invented the Hook-On Scaffold, a system designed for safer, easier-to-use scaffolding for residential and commercial construction efforts. The Hook-On Scaffold boasts a cost-effective, time-efficient solution for typical scaffolding structures that are inferior quality, and therefore, less safe. Is the Hook-On Scaffold the answer to the construction industry's need for more secure, higher-quality and simply designed scaffolding systems?
Miles came across the idea for the Hook-On Scaffold while attending an Occupational Health & Safety course. After hearing about the many incidences of scaffolding-related accidents, injuries and fatalities, Miles decided that a better solution was needed and began developing prototypes of more secure, reliable scaffolding systems. As an electrical contractor who had performed maintenance in commercial buildings, Miles had the industry expertise to develop an innovative scaffolding system that would reduce the number of accidents due to faulty scaffolding.
Hook-On Scaffold gained widespread recognition when featured on the ABC Television series, "The New Inventors" in 2007. The modular, adjustable scaffolding system requires no tools for assembly, is lightweight and easily portable. It attaches to a building frame, which negates the need for legs while offering a wider space to work; in fact, the Hook-On Scaffold offers a workspace that is six times as wide as that offered by typical scaffolding systems. This increased workspace is safer as workers have more room in which to move.
In fact, the Hook-On Scaffold was designed for the overall safety of workers while on scaffolding. This innovative scaffolding allows crews to work at hip height, reducing back strain and injury. Meanwhile, it allows access to all work 1.8 meters and above, so this scaffolding is ideal for roof repair, façade repair and the like. The Hook-On Scaffold utilizes a multi-height support arm, so this one scaffolding system can be utilized across a wide range of construction projects.
Miles' scaffolding invention, the Hook-On Scaffold, has been awarded the "Best Solution to an Identified Workplace Health & Safety Issue" in 2005 at the ACT Workcover Occupational Health & Safety Awards, held by the organization that first inspired his invention. In addition, Hook-On Scaffold was a finalist in the Safe Australia Awards. The many accolades and recognition this scaffolding innovation has received is well-deserved, as this system offers a safe solution to scaffolding that eliminates tools and assembly time. Considering the prevalence of scaffolding related injuries and fatalities around the world, Miles' Hook-On Scaffold is a much welcomed, and needed, innovation.