SAIA Committee Week full of work

The Scaffold & Access Industry Association (SAIA) Executive Committee, Board of Directors and councils met last week in Weston, FL at the 2012 Committee Week event. It was "a success," SAIA said.

Committee Week is the association's mid-year meeting where 10 councils meet to work on current projects, discuss issues facing their council's segment in the industry, evaluate goals and objectives, and prepare for the upcoming year. During the four days, 113 industry scaffold and access professionals came together to discuss collectively more than 80 agenda items unique to the scaffold and access industry.

"With today's 24/7 communication tools, our volunteers now work on these projects year-round, but it's great to see everyone get together and put the finishing touches to the programs face-to-face," said Steve Smith, president of SAIA.

Committees approved the following projects, which are now being reviewed by the SAIA.

The Plank & Platform Council, under the leadership of Colby Hubler (Mill Direct) submitted Scaffold Plank Identification and Inspection. This new project will be a downloadable PDF to help all users of scaffold plank to identify mandatory and non-mandatory requirements of all types of plank by outlining industry standards, best practices and detailed media. Additionally, the PDF entails a product specific inspection process for used plank along with a SAIA recommended action for each type of damage. All solid sawn, engineered wood, metal and composite planks and decks are included in this project.

Construction Hoist Council chair, Paula Manning (Century Elevators), finalized the Code of Safe Practices for Construction Elevators. This project will expand the SAIA portfolio for its Code of Safe Practices series. These guidelines were designed to promote safety in the erection, dismantle, operation and use of construction hoists. Each Code of Safe Practices is designed for job site posting and as an easy reference guide.

The Aerial Work Platform (AWP) OSHA alliance focus group finalized eight new safety-tip projects that will address industry issues such as selection of proper AWP's for a job, developing an AWP rescue plan, and implementing an AWP fall-protection system. Additionally the council agreed to move forward with introducing an SAIA booms-and scissors-training program with proper approval.