EP1072736A1

EP1072736A1 - Safety guard

Info

Publication number: EP1072736A1
Application number: EP00306323A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Andrew William Archer; John Howard Willis
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: ARCHER, ANDREW WILLIAM; WILLIS, JOHN HOWARD
Priority date: 1999-07-30
Filing date: 2000-07-25
Publication date: 2001-01-31
Also published as: GB9917876D0

Abstract

A safety guard (1) for protecting the edges of a horizontal or flat roof is described. The safety guard (1) combines a mesh (7) to prevent bricks or debris falling over the edge of a roof and a toe board (11) for mounting flush with the roof. The safety guard (1) is provided with hooks (9) for hooking over a substantially horizontal scaffolding pole (29) and the toe board (11) is movable with respect to the hooks (9). In embodiments, the toe board (11) is movable with respect to the mesh (7); alternatively the hooks (9) can be moved with respect to the mesh (7). The toe board (11) and mesh (7) may be integrally formed of plastics, such as rigid polypropylene.

Description

This invention relates to a safety guard, especially a safety guard for protecting the edges of raised flat surfaces, for example on building sites.
Safety legislation requires the use of certain safety apparatus when work is being carried out on a flat roof. One requirement is for edge protection. GB 2 279 392 describes a temporary edge support that can be used to provide such protection. Uprights spaced around the roof edge are held up by stabiliser arms and support a handrail made of scaffolding pole.
There are two further requirements. The first is a brick guard for preventing materials falling over the edge of the roof. A mesh sheet fixed to the handrail is generally used. The second is a solid toe board at roof level. Most temporary support structures in this field provide clips on the base of the uprights to hold toe boards between adjacent uprights. Such a system is inconvenient, unwieldy, and requires a large number of separate components which often cannot be reused. The life span of the components can also be reused. The life span of the components can also be rather short.
There is thus a need for an improved guard system.
Moreover, the need for guard rails is not limited to roof edges and safety systems are also required at the edges of conventional scaffolding and indeed elsewhere.
According to the invention there is provided a guard for guarding the edge of a surface, comprising
a mesh for preventing debris falling over the edge, means for supporting the mesh on a substantially horizontal pole,
a toe board fixed to the mesh, and
wherein the toe board is moveable with respect to the means for supporting the mesh.
In embodiments, the means for supporting the mesh may be moveable relative to the mesh to allow the mesh to be positioned at various positions relative to the substantially horizontal pole. The toe board may be integrally formed with the mesh.
The mesh and toe board may be made of rigid plastics, for example polypropylene. This may provide a durable structure with a much longer lifetime than that of prior metal arrangements. In alternative embodiments, the mesh may be made of metal.
The means for supporting the mesh may be a hook for hooking over a scaffolding pole. The hook may be a snap fit on a conventional scaffolding pole, for example a pole of diameter 50mm.
Preferably, a releasable locking means is provided for fixing the toe board in position relative to the means for supporting the mesh. The releasable locking means may comprise screws.
The screws may pass through holes through the strut and the slots in the toe board. The screws may be fixed to the strut, e.g. by welding. Nuts may be provided on the screws to hold the toe board on the struts. The nuts can conveniently be integrally formed with a hand grip so that they can be loosened and tightened without the need for tools. The nut and screw together make up the releasable locking means.
The mesh should be of a size that will catch bricks. Of course, it will then also catch other materials of similar size.
Preferably, struts are provided to support the mesh and toe board. The mesh may be fixed between the struts.
In embodiments, the toe board is mounted for motion relative to the mesh. The relative motion of the toe board and mesh may be vertical. The relative movement of toe board and mesh allows the brick guard to be supported on scaffolding poles of various heights with the toe board flush with the surface guarded, e.g. the roof surface, as required.
The toe board may be movably attached to the struts for movement relative to the struts. The toe board may have slots extending across its width and pins extending from the struts may be located in the slots. The toe board can then be moved relative to the struts by sliding the toe board in the direction along the struts with the pins retained in the slots. The pins can conveniently be screws.
Preferably, hooks are provided on the outside face of the guard for facing away from the roof. Hand grips may be provided on the inside face of the guard for facing the inside of the roof. The hooks accordingly face forward away from the hand grip side of the brick guard.
The toe board can be a sheet of metal. The top of the sheet may be folded over inwards.
For a better understanding of the invention a specific embodiment will now be described, purely by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:
Figure 1 shows a side view of a first embodiment of brick guard according to the invention,
Figure 2 shows a front view of the brick guard of Figure 1,
Figure 3 shows details of the fixing of the toe board to the struts in the embodiment of Figures 1 and 2,
Figure 4 shows a perspective view of a brick guard according to a second embodiment of the invention,
Figure 5 shows a front view of the brick guard shown in Figure 4,
Figure 6 shows a front view of the hook used in the brick guard according to Figure 4,
Figure 7 shows a side view of the hook shown in Figure 6, and
Figure 8 shows a detail of the fixing of the brick guard to a scaffolding pole.
Referring to Figures 1 to 3, a brick guard 1 comprises two struts or posts 3,5 supporting a rectangular sheet of steel mesh 7 between them. Each strut has a hook 9 for hooking over a horizontal scaffolding bar.
A toe board 11 is supported between the struts 3,5 below the mesh. Each end of the toe board is provided with a slot 13,15, running across the toe board. The top 21 of the toe board is folded over to form a flat surface.
Bolts or screws 16 are passed through holes in the struts 3,5 and the slots 13,15. Wing nuts 17 on the screws hold the toe board against the strut. The nuts 17 are provided with handgrips 19 to allow them to be easily unscrewed or tightened by hand.
In use, the hooks are hooked over a horizontal scaffolding pole at the edge of a roof. The pole may be supported by the hand rail support described in GB 2 279 392 or otherwise. The hooks face outwards, so that the mesh is located facing the inside of the roof. Normally, a further horizontal scaffolding pole is provided between the top pole and the roof and this is arranged outside the brick guard to prevent it swinging outwards. Such simple fixing is sufficient to hold the brick guard in place.
The height of the toe board 11 is adjusted by unscrewing the nuts, sliding the toe board along the poles and tightening the nuts when the lower edge of the toe board is flat on the roof.
Referring to Figures 4 to 8, a second embodiment of the brick guard according to the invention will now be described. In this embodiment, the brick guard 1 comprises two upright struts 3, 5 each 990mm long with a 50mm square mesh 7 arranged therebetween. A toe board 11 203mm wide is provided at the base of the mesh 7 between the two struts 3, 5. The mesh, uprights and toe board are integrally formed as a unit from polypropylene plastics. The width of the unit is 1m.
Hooks 9 are formed as separate components, likewise made of plastics, and comprise a hook shaped head 23 of internal diameter 50mm and a tail 25 which defines a through hole 27.
Runners 21 150mm long with 8mm wide slots 31 are integrally formed in the top of the mesh 7, and are adapted to slideably hold the tails 25 of two hooks 9. The hooks can slide in the runners to allow vertical motion of the hooks with respect to the integrally formed mesh and toe board. The head 23 of the hooks is arranged to provide a snap-fit around scaffolding poles 29.
In use, the hooks 9 are hooked over scaffolding poles 29. As viewed by a user standing on the roof, the hooks 9 are arranged to point away from the user so that the mesh 7 is on the side of the scaffolding poles towards the inside of the roof. Thus, the mesh 7 prevents objects falling over the edge of the roof, and toe board 11 likewise prevents objects going over the edge of the roof.
In order to hold the mesh and toe board at the required height, a bolt may be placed through the through hole 27 and slot 31 and fastened in a known manner. As in the first embodiment, wing nuts may be provided to more easily allow the hooks to be correctly positioned and tightened.
When it is required to work right to the edge of the roof, the section can simply be removed because of the easy snap-fit action of the hooks on the scaffolding pole 29. Alternatively, the mesh and toe board can be lifted upwards by sliding the hooks 9 in the runners 21.
There is thus provided a brick guard that is much easier to fix than conventional systems, in that the brick guard can simply be hooked over horizontal scaffolding pole. In conventional systems the brick guard must be attached separately and separate toe boards provided. Of course, the metal or plastic toe board used in the invention is lighter than conventional scaffolding boards.
Conventional scaffold tubes may have clips for holding the toe board, and in use the toe board position can be adjusted to engage in these clips to locate the toe board.
The horizontal pole to which the guard is attached can be held up by whatever means are convenient, making the system as described convenient and flexible. Moreover, the horizontal bar can provide a hand rail so he guard mounted on the horizontal pole can provide all the required safety equipment.
Since the mesh is formed as a unit with the toe board, it is much easier for a site engineer to check that required safety systems are correctly in place since the engineer need only check that one of the mesh and toe board is correctly fitted. This may be visible from ground level.
The mesh may be largely self supported, at least when the apparatus is hung from a horizontal pole, so it is not necessary that the struts be sufficiently rigid to stand upright and hold the mesh between them. They can accordingly be much less rigid than the posts in the prior art systems. The struts may be round or rectangular or any convenient shape.

Claims

A guard for guarding the edge of a surface, comprising

a mesh for preventing debris falling over the edge,

a toe board fixed to the mesh,

means for supporting the mesh on a substantially horizontal pole, wherein

the toe board is moveable with respect to the means for supporting the mesh.
A guard according to claim 1 wherein the means for supporting the mesh is a hook for hooking over a scaffolding pole.
A guard according to claim 1 or 2 wherein the hook has a head for hooking over a scaffolding pole and a tail slidably located in a runner integrally formed in the mesh.
A guard according to any preceding claim wherein the means for supporting the mesh is moveable relative to the mesh for allowing the mesh to be positioned at various heights relative to the pole.
A guard according to any preceding claim wherein the toeboard is integrally formed with the mesh.
A guard according to any preceding claim wherein the mesh and toeboard are made of rigid plastics.
A guard according to claim 6 wherein the mesh and toeboard are made of polypropylene.
A guard according to any of claims 1 to 4 wherein the toe board is mounted for motion relative to the mesh.
A guard according to claim 8 further comprising struts substantially perpendicular to the toe board, wherein the mesh is fixed to the struts, and the toe board may be movably attached to the struts.
A guard according to any preceding claim further comprising a releasable locking means for fixing the toe board in position relative to the mesh.