We would like to thank all of our guest presenters, members, and guests who were able to attend our Annual General Meeting for 2020.
Unfortunately with the recent border closures and COVID-19 hotspots announcements over the past couple of weeks, some of our guest presenters and members weren’t able to attend on the day. We do thank everyone who was able to make it and it was still a very productive meeting in the end with a lot of good industry information shared.
Below is the video presentation for the day, time stamps are included beneath the video so that you can skip forwards to whichever presentation you would like to watch.
Time Stamps
Please click through to the following times on the video above to see these presentations:
- 0:00:00 – Construc and President of the SAQ, Rob Thiess’s welcome
- 0:00:53 – Guest Speaker – Matthew, Drew and Daniel Eade, Sitemax – Sitemax company overview and highlighted products for the scaffolding industry
- 00:17:26 – Guest Speaker – Michael Poole and Reg Potts, Layher – New Layher yard in Brendale, Virtual Reality system, Layplan VR Viewer, Allround Modular Stair tower
- 00:31:11 – Guest Speaker – Jonathon Hadley, Gadens Lawyers – Managing COVID-19 in the workplace
- 00:52:19 – Guest Speaker – Justin Smith, Construc -Falsework for Scaffolders
- 01:22:43 – Guest Speaker – Stuart Davies, WHSQ – Marking of scaffold components
- 01:40:39 – Guest Speaker – Erryn O’Brien, Executive Officer, SAQ – Unsafe Scaffolding Reports, Scaffolding Training in Australia survey, Silica Dust Exposure Monitoring Survey, Membership renewal document, Election of the Executive Management Committee for 2020/21
- 02:25:33 – Guest Speaker – Glen Cook (Cookie), Energy Qld – Look up and Live application, desktop and now an app available from Apply Appstore.
Here’s a brief outline of what was presented and discussed at our Annual General Meeting and some links to further information:
Sitemax – Matthew, Daniel & Drew Eade
Sitemax have recently come on board as sponsors to the SAQ and we thank them for taking the time to introduce their company and products today to the association. In their presentation, they gave us an overview of their capabilities, the products that they supply and their new range of products. Daniel also took us through the wind flow and flame retardancy testing that they have done on their scaffold containment products.
Sitemax have manufacturing and warehousing capabilities in both Qld and NSW. They hold raw material of bannermesh and chain and shade, ready for onsite printing. They can also cut steel tubes and timber boards to length in their factory. They manufacture chain wire onsite with their chain wire machine using Australian made wire. Their large range of printing machines allow them to print signs, banners and site advertising solutions for their customers, all in-house, so they have total control over the process and can fully guarantee the quality of their product.
Highlighted Products:
- Scafclad product range – Scafclad is a dust containment, weather or environmental protection sheeting. It’s available in a 2, 3 and 4 metre wide roll by 45m long and comes in FR or Non-FR options. It can also be printed with client logo’s, images etc for advertising.
- Printed Bannermesh – All concept artwork can be done by Sitemax and in-house printing on bannermesh for advertising.
- Printed mesh pre-attached to chain – The mesh can be supplied on its own or Sitemax can pre-attach it to chain wire, ready for you to use and install on-site.
- Scaffold stickers / banners – With their wide range of printing machines, they can print anything you can think of such as stickers, banners etc
- Envirosign / Envirobanner – This product is fully recyclable. Because it’s printed onto the core flute and the inks environmentally friendly, Sitemax can take the signs back at the end of the project, recycle them, and make them into new signs. The following products are able to be recycled; Corflute signs, Poly signs, Metal signs, PVC free banners, Shadecloth and Chainwire.
- Collapsible Scaffold Cage – Sitemax had a request from a scaffolding company to develop a cage that was easy for transporting when they are empty, so they came up with a design for a collapsible cage. The sides can be flat packed, sit onto a standard stillage and can be easily transported
- Site Safety Products – Scaff tags and holders, signs (Danger, Prohibition, Mandatory), Fixings (Cable ties, Kwikaz, Tie wire), PPE (Gloves, Hard hats, Ear plugs etc)
- Scaffeze – An environmentally friendly lubricant that is used for soaking your fittings in. It doesn’t leave a greasy or slippery finish on the fitting when you pull it out.
- Techboard Ultra Scaffold Plank – Sitemax are distributors of a range of plastic boards that have a five-year warranty on them and at the end of their life can be recycled and turned back into plastic boards again. They won’t split or rot and can be packed together.
- Sonic Quilt – The Sonic Quilt and Curtain can be used on temporary fencing or scaffolding as noise containment. It’s a blanket that you attach onto your scaffold and on the inside is insulation to absorb noise.
- Spidermesh – Developed and added to their range is the Spidermesh 1.9m high, high tensile wire with edging on top and bottom to stop it tangling. Allows you to put any cut of lining on it that you want or a quad net option. Can be supplied with no lining, the shade lining or quad net lining.
- Quad net (Patented) – used for high wind flows and reduces the wind load on the scaffold.
Full members will be able to access the AGM Video to watch Sitemax’s full presentation, as well as their PowerPoint presentation to download.
Layher – Michael Poole & Reg Potts
Michael Poole, Branch Manager for Layher Qld and Reg Potts, Far Nth Qld and NT, joined us today to introduce us to their new yard in Brendale which officially opened in 2019. The new branch has a huge range of displays assembled as well as a great stock range and they welcome visitors if you’d like to go and check it out.
Layher also has a new Virtual Reality (VR) system that Michael and Reg took the group through today. Layher has identified that the scaffolding industry will be going in a digital direction in terms of scaffold design and are leading the pack with their VR systems. Scaffold can now be designed in the real world so the client can physically see what they’re going to get before it gets built, which is the next step in evolution in scaffold design.
Michael also spoke today about an accessory that is unique to Layher, the Allround Modular stair tower. This system allows stairway towers to be pre-assembled level by level on the ground. Watch the video in the link here for more info on this system.
Michael also took us through Layhers software, LayPlan VR Viewer, which is free to download. This allows you to input a design you may already have and convert it to VR using this system. This is free to download so give it a go!
Gadens Lawyers – Jonathon Hadley
Jonathon from Gadens joined us today to inform us on managing COVID-19 in the workplace. Jonathon went through the following points:
- Understanding the risk to your workplace and your overall obligations
- Employee leave, rights, obligations etc
- Establishing or updating policies and procedures
- Shutdowns and redundancies
- Implementation and other preventative measures
- Communicating with your employees
- Obligations when employee’s must work from home
- Amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009
- The Jobkeeper scheme
- Standing down employee’s
- Employee’s rights
We thank Jonathon for his continued support for our association and for joining us today to inform us on our rights and obligations throughout this COVID-19 period.
Construc – Justin Smith
Justin joined us today to take us through Falsework from a Scaffolders perspective. Since 2015 Justin has been the draft leader for the new Formwork Code of Practice, part 2 for design and construction and through that process there was a realisation that there isn’t really any advice on Falsework. Justin has been working very hard on this topic and joined us today to fully explain exactly what Falsework is and how it works etc. In Queensland falsework is typically designed using system scaffolding.
Full members will be able to access the AGM Video to watch Justin’s full presentation, as well as his PowerPoint presentation which will be available for download.
Workplace Health & Safety Qld – Stuart Davies
Stuart Davies from Workplace Health & Safety Qld joined us today to inform our association on what the department is finding in the industry at the moment and also gave our members some advice on what they are currently looking for and finding.
Full members will be able to access the AGM Video to watch Stuart’s full presentation.
Energy Qld – Glen Cook
Glen is the Principal Community Safety Specialist for Energy Queensland and his role involves travelling our great state educating business and the public on electrical safety.
Energy Queensland in conjunction with Ergon and Energex have released the “Look up and Live Application” which works in a similar way to Google Maps in that you can enter an address (your work site for example) and the application will show you all of the electrical data in this area. It indicates all above ground and underground power lines so you can be informed before your project begins.
Here is the link to the Look up and Live Application:
https://ergon.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=5a53f6f37db84158930f9909e4d30286
This application is now also available as an app in the Apple App store:
https://apps.apple.com/au/app/look-up-and-live/id1519374756
Energy Qld are available to do tool box talks with businesses onsite or can present at meetings and conferences. If you are interested in this, please contact Glen to arrange.
Scaffolding Association Queensland – Erryn O’Brien, Executive Officer
Erryn O’Brien is the Executive Officer for the Scaffolding Association Queensland and today updated our members on our Reporting Unsafe Scaffolding procedure, our work on Scaffolding Training in Australia, the presentation of the Membership Renewal Document that will be sent to members next week with information about their membership, the Silica Dust Exposure proposal for collective hygiene testing and also the election of the SAQ Executive Management Committee.
Full members will be able to access the AGM Video to watch Erryn’s full presentation, as well as all of the documents that Erryn mentions will be available for download from the Members Area of the SAQ website.
Scaffolding Association Queensland – Rob Thiess, President
Rob Thiess, President of the SAQ, today updated our members on the following:
- Scaffolding Code of Practice Review – Estimated release date (please note that all reviewed codes have been delayed due to COVID-19)
- The cost implications to the industry of the new Scaffolding Code of Practice
- Fire-rated scaffold containment
- SAQ Best Practice Guidelines update
- Silica Dust in the Workplace Code of Practice
- The publication of updated standard AS 4576:2020
- Current issues in the industry with gaps, head height issues, step down issues etc
If you want to stay up to date on what’s happening in the scaffolding industry in Queensland, and Australia, join us.
If you want to get your product or service in front of the scaffolding industry in Queensland, contact us today to inquire about Associate Membership and our advertising opportunities.
