Representing the Australian Scaffolding Industry

Our History

The SAA was formed in 2022 after previously being a Queensland state-based association, the Scaffolding Association Queensland (SAQ). The SAQ was formed in 1994 to increase the level of professionalism in an industry too often ignored or misrepresented in the building process. Our mission has not changed, we are here to represent our members and be their voice in the construction industry. We help guide them in managing, operating and growing their business.

Since 1994, the SAQ, now the SAA has helped members enhance and expand their businesses by providing support and advice in business management and processes, as well as updates on technological advances in the scaffolding industry, new product information and updates to scaffolding legislation.

We have represented our membership in dealings with State and Federal agencies and have a proven track record in lobbying government to ensure that legislation impacting the scaffolding industry are reasonable and consider the opinions of scaffolding companies. We’re helping advance more effective safety standards with our cohesive industry approach to the development of scaffold related standards and codes of practice.

At our last General Meeting as the SAQ, on 9th November 2022, our membership voted unanimously on a special resolution to transition from a state based association to a national company limited by guarantee and we became the Scaffolding Association Australia Limited.

The mission of the Scaffolding Association Australia is to represent, enhance and promote the scaffold industry in Australia.

This mission incorporates educating and developing the capabilities of members and associate members.

As part of this mission the Scaffolding Association Australia endeavours to:

SAA Board of Directors and Staff

Rob Thiess
Chairperson & Managing Director
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Rob Thiess

President

Company: Construc Pty Ltd

Bio: 30 years of experience in the design detailing and inspection of permanent and Temporary works. Chartered Member of Engineer's Australia - MIEAust; CPEng. Member of the National Engineer's Register - NER 248997. Registered Professional Engineer Qld - RPEQ 5288. President Scaffolding Association Australia. Member QMBA Safety Sub Committee. Committee member for QLD Scaffold Code of Practice Review 2018. Committee member for QLD Formwork Code of Practice Review 2016.

Tim McGregor
Vice Chairperson & Director
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Tim McGregor

Vice President

Company: Hutchinson Builders

SAA Area of Responsibility: National Market Trends

Tim is the Construction Support Team Leader at Hutchinson Builders where he manages in excess of $120m in plant and assets including the Scaffold Department.   With nearly 20 years at Hutchies and over 30 years’ experience in the scaffold and allied construction industries, he brings a wealth of experience to the Association. Tim has been a committee member since 2013 and Vice President since 2016.

Danny Zarb
Secretary & Director
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Danny Zarb

Secretary

Company: Miad Consulting

SAA Area of Responsibility: Membership & Governance

With 30+years of industry specific experience, in Senior/Board Management and Operational roles within Australian and Internationally, there is a focus on Business Transformation/Operational Excellence and making a significant contribution to not only revenue growth but the growth of people for companies across many sectors.

Michael Stewart
Board Member & Director
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Michael Stewart

Board Member & Director

Company: Cogent Scaffolding

SAA Area of Responsibility: Scaffolding Safety

Mick has been an SAQ committee member since 2016 and was the Secretary of the SAQ since 2018. Working for Cogent Scaffolding, he has extensive experience in the safety management of the scaffolding industry. Mick has a thorough understanding of relevant OH&S legislation and in developing and implementing formal safety systems. His role at Cogent includes facilitating incident investigations, establishing root cause, and corrective actions, and establishing a competency based training programs as well as all general safety requirements of their sites. Mick has over 16 years of experience in the scaffolding industry.

Phillip Whitbread
Board Member & Director
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Phillip Whitbread

Board Member

Company: GIA Scaffold

SAA Area of Responsibility: Small Business Liaison

With near 30 years experience in the scaffold Industry, Phillip Whitbread started at ground level as a yardman all the way Branch manager with some of Queensland's most prominent Scaffold Companies, Now he has started his own scaffold company GIA Scaffold, He has sat on the executive committee of the SAQ for the last 5 years, 3 as treasurer. 

Simon Boyes
Board Member & Director
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Simon Boyes

Board Member

Company: Benchmark Scaffolding

SAA Area of Responsibility: Social Media & Market Trends

Simon is the MD of Benchmark Scaffolding and the Founder of ScaffPlan. He has built his career in the scaffolding industry from the ground up (literally). Simon started working as a labourer in the scaffold yard and has worked his way through every position possible inside a scaffolding business. He has run crews of many hundred staff and managed projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Simon is now the Managing Director of Benchmark Scaffolding and the Founder of ScaffPlan. He is passionate about finding simple solutions to solve complex scaffolding projects.

Miroslaw Pliszko
Board Member & Director
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Miroslaw Pliszko

Board Member

Company: MBP Engineering

SAA Area of Focus: Compliance, Regulatory Bodies & Swing Stages

Miro is an accomplished professional engineer with multi – disciplinary education at PhD level and experience in a range of engineering fields, as well as business and team management. Engineer with years of experience in engineering fields. Miro always ensures the viability of engineering, safety in design and compliance with broad angle and long-terms. Miro has a Doctoral Degree in Engineering and is Chartered Professional Engineer and Member of the Institution of Engineers Australia (CPEng MIEAust NER). He is also registered in accordance with the requirements of the Professional Engineers Act 2012 in Queensland (RPEQ) and registered as Engineering Practitioner in Victoria State (PE). He was an active member of various Technical Working Groups (TWG) at National and State level and a member of Australian Standards Committee. Selected to lead and represent SafeWork SA in the review and update of National Assessments Instruments (NAI) and Unit of Competency (UoC) for high risk work licences (HRWL).

Erryn O’Brien
General Manager
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Erryn O'Brien

General Manager

Company: Scaffolding Association Australia & Cogent Scaffolding

Prior to the launch of the Scaffolding Association Australia (SAA) in 2023, Erryn was the Executive Officer of the Scaffolding Association Queensland (SAQ) for 6 years and managed the transition from the SAQ to the SAA. Erryn is an experienced business and marketing professional with a demonstrated history of working in the construction industry, specialising in construction industry marketing and management. Erryn and Aimee manage the day-to-day operations of the SAA as well as its strategy, campaigns, events and communications. Erryn also works for Cogent Scaffolding and has over 13 years’ experience in the scaffolding industry.

Aimee Schafer
Communications Manager
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Aimee Schafer

Communications Manager

Company: Scaffolding Association Australia, ScaffPlan & Benchmark Scaffolding

Aimee has many years of experience in business operations and joined the SAQ in 2022. Aimee was an integral part of the transition from SAQ to SAA. Aimee works as the COO of ScaffPlan as well as Benchmark Scaffolding. Aimee and Erryn manage the day-to-day operations of the SAA as well as its strategy, campaigns, events and communications.

SAA General Committee Members - Queensland

Damian Boyce
Qld Chair
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Richard Price

Qld Chair

Company : Hutchinson Builders

 

Damian is the Senior Compliance and Technical Advisor for Hutchinson Builders Scaffold Department

Damian has worked for multiple tier one scaffold companies on the east coast of Australia in a multitude of positions.  

He has spent the last five years focused on industry compliance, training and education.

Damian is very proud to be a part of the team at Hutchinson builders who are committed to continued improvement through industry innovation.

Damian hopes to bring the same approach to his role with the SAA.

Michael Poole
General Committee Member - Qld
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Michael Poole

General Committee Member

Company: Central Scaffolding & Rigging

Michael is the General Manager at Central Scaffolding & Rigging. Michael has worked on projects with many major contractors in the oil and Inspection sector such as BP, Chevron, SSPC, Shell, Petrofac, etc. Working within the Layher team he aims to deliver safe and successful results to all projects. The most important part of this work is that he is always pushing for perfection in all areas of my job role. With this mindset, he is always looking to better himself and those around him.

Rhys Dixon
General Committee Member - Qld
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Rhys Dixon

General Committee Member

Company: AT-PAC

7 yrs Supervising Scaffolding in with an additional 6 years on the tools, Rhys has worked and supervised in greenfields and brownfields conditions. Construction on gas plants, refineries, wharves, barges and offshore. He has vast experience in maintenance and shutdowns too.

Richard Price
General Committee Member - Qld
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Josh Gold

General Committee Member

Company: Dynaton Sales & Hire

Richard is the Director of Dynaton Sales & Hire, a Formwork and Scaffold production company based in Queensland Australia. All equipment is tested locally and certified to Australian standards. Richard is a hard working person who likes to take on a challenge. He has  been working in the construction industry since he finished school in 1998 and has progressed through a number of roles. I love and adore my family and am the proud father of 3.

Brendan Little
General Committee Member - Qld
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Tane Rapana-Flint

General Committee Member

Company: UGL

Brendan is a HSE Lead in the Power Generation division within UGL.

Brendan has 20 years of experience within the scaffolding industry in almost every sector, residential, commercial, rail, public access and heavy industry including power station, refineries, oil and gas. In this position, with his experience, Brendan can ensure compliance and the ability to assist in finding better ways to achieve great results for everyone involved.

SAA General Committee Members - NSW

Mark Corkery
NSW Chair
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NSW Chair

Company: Scaffold Studio

Mark Corkery founded Scaffold Studio in March 2020. “Scaffold Studio takes great pride in tailoring our services to allow companies from small family-owned companies to multinationals access to the same high-quality designs and guidance”

Mark is passionate about safety and compliance and strives to assist the scaffolding industry continue to build on the last decades push for greater regulation and standards. “Education, collaboration and the need to continually raise our standards will be the key to deliver the scaffold industry into an environment where preventable accidents and injuries don't exist.”

Keaton Owen
General Committee Member - NSW
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Company: Scaffold Safety

With over two decades of experience in a variety of sectors, including process steel manufacturing, open cut and underground mining, oil and gas, plant design and installation, project construction, and residential work, I have developed a strong understanding of risk management and system operations.

This has resulted in a clear and obvious understanding of the craft arts, which I performed on a daily basis to the highest industry standards, as well as the WHS legislation and guidelines that support these.

Scott Butlin
General Committee Member - NSW
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My goal is to contribute to the growth and development of the Scaffolding Industry in Australia.

There are various areas that require improvement, and I strongly believe that only a national association can effectively deliver the success that our industry deserves.

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General Committee Member - NSW
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General Committee Member - NSW
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SAA General Committee Members - Victoria

Jordy Adshead
VIC Chair
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VIC Chair

Company: Base Industries

Jordy Adshead is the National HSEQ Manager at Base Industries and SAA VIC Chair.

In his role at Base Industries he has implemented rigorous HSEQ training and coaching programs building on existing industry leading initiatives and management systems. Within the business we are all leaders in health and safety and we listen to ideas of all our employees, this supports the company vision that every employee is of equal, we all go home healthy and safe.
The passion for Health and Safety is obvious in our business culture which is embraced through living the company values

Paul Allwood
General Committee Member - VIC
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Company: Layher

Paul has been in the scaffolding industry since 1995. He was employed as a contract scaffolder for 9 years as advanced scaffoler leading hand.

Paul then moved into the training field with CFMEU RTO as a high risk trainer and assessor working closely with the all stakeholders to train and issue Worksafe licences for 13 years.

Paul has experience as Operations & Project Management with Vic major scaffold contractor.

He has now been with Layher in his current role for 3 1/2 years and is also an active committee member on the Victorian Scaffold Safety Committee and the Worksafe Vic Industry Standard Committee.

Reon Tareha
General Committee Member - VIC
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Company: Scaffold Design Australia

 Reon Tareha has extensive scaffold design experience across all construction sectors of Australia for over 15 years.  He started as a labourer for seven years and his technical eye for detail and computer systems led him into scaffold design.  He is passionate about online and software tools that increase the quality of design and estimation.

 Reon Tareha founded Scaffold Design Australia in January 2018 and prides its designs on good timing, readability, training, and built-in design safety.  Based out of Melbourne, Reon is a valued VIC Committee Member for SAA.

Jamie Robertson
General Committee Member - VIC
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Company: Stilcon Scaffolding

My career in the Scaffolding Industry dates back to 1985, developing from yard labourer to Design Engineer.

After working as a site scaffolder for 15 years, in 2000 I embarked on my study path.

I hold a Bachelor of Science Degree (1st Class Hons) in Civil Engineering.

Since graduating from University in 2007 I worked as a Scaffolding Design Engineer in the UK for Lyndon Scaffolding, now LyndonSGB by Brand Safway, I moved over to Australia in 2014 and continued my UK role remotely.

I have extensive knowledge in erecting and designing of scaffold structures predominately in tube and coupler, however I am transitioning into system scaffold in my new role.

I am proficient in FEM analysis of scaffold structures (Finite Element Modelling) and produce structural calculations as required, including wind loading assessments etc, I also produce 3D and 2D drawings.

My aim is to help promote best practice within the Australian Scaffolding Industry and share my knowledge where possible.

Working alongside other industry experts is an exciting opportunity, and I look forward to trying to make a difference.

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General Committee Member - VIC
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SAA General Committee Members - SA

Di Barry
SA Chair
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SA Chair

Company: Grove Scaff

Di is the owner and CEO of Grove Scaff, a proud family owned business providing customised aluminium scaffold solutions for the commercial and industrial sectors.  The company was founded in 1983 and has been built on a philosophy of continual improvement and an uncompromising focus on safety.

Di has been running the company as sole director since the death of her husband in 2012.  She has faced many challenges in this transition, including operating a business with limited technical knowledge coupled by an absence of state industry support.

This has been the driver for her commitment to changing the perception of the industry, for seeking out training opportunities and for advocating for a united voice for the scaffolding industry.

She is grateful for the opportunity to be part of the SAA and contribute to its mission to represent, enhance, and promote scaffolding as a professional and progressive industry.

Dylan Hoare
General Committee Member - SA
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Company: Pinnacle Access Group

My name is Dylan Hoare, i am the owner/managing director at Pinnacle Scaffolding SA Pty Ltd, Pinnacle Rope Access, and Adelaide Gantry, jointly known as Pinnacle Access Group. I have 15 years experience in the commercial & industrial sectors, and hold Advanced Scaffolding, Advanced Rigging, and IRATA licenses.

Pinnacle Access Group was established in 2018 with 2 other directors Dwayne Adams & Steven Smith. We have quickly become the go-to for specialised access solutions including scaffolding, mast climbers, swing stages & rope access. 

I am a firm believer in quality over quantity, i prefer to see a project completed correctly rather than quickly (or both together is good too!). Since we started our business our goal was to create a team & company that could handle the most technical, high risk jobs, in a reliable, professional, and of course safe manner. I believe we have achieved this, and our portfolio is a testimony to this, however I also preach that you should never stop learning & developing - one of my main reasons for wanting to join the SAA committee.

We are lucky to have a fantastic team of guys working for & with us which make it all possible, i am proud of what we have been able to achieve thus far and looking forward to building on this even further with the SAA committee & members.

Ben Trusz
General Committee Member - SA
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General Committee Member - SA
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General Committee Member - SA
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SAA General Committee Members - WA

David Clark
WA Chair
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WA Chair

Company: At-Pac

David has been in the scaffolding industry for over 23 years, with experience in many aspects of scaffolding, access and execution both at the operational level and across multiple projects spread across Australasia.

This includes quality systems and processes, design & engineering, business development, tendering, planning, sales, estimating, document management, client relationship development, operations and innovations development.

David’s position as Director at AT-PAC is based heavily around innovation, product development, technical services and execution which is a passion and driver for him in the industry.

Matthew Ward
General Committee Member - WA
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Matthew is a dynamic manager with site experience on some of the largest oil and gas projects in the APAC region in recent times. With over 20 years experience in the industrial services sector and more than 10 spent across all corners of the Asia-Pacific region.

A true believer that leadership focussed on promoting the primary significance of health and safety is the catalyst for sustainable productivity improvements. My MSc thesis, The Application of Lean Practices in the Industrial Service Industry coupled with my working experiences have formed this belief. It's imperative that we drive organisational sustainability with a consistent focus on the health and safety of all stakeholders, promoting a health and safety culture through personal action, and encouraging optimisation at all levels.

My current role with Scafom-Rux embodies this belief, to manufacture and design high-quality products to the ultimate safety standards and regulatory licensing, to deliver and encourage safe working practices throughout organisations, and improve productivity to meet growing project demands.

Benta Tran
General Committee Member - WA
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Company: ScafWest

Benta Tran is a very passionate Design Engineer specialising predominately in scaffolding projects all across Western Australia from Defence, Industrial to Mining, Iron/Ore and even Marine to name a few. With a university degree in Civil and Structural Engineering and very valuable experience across many major projects in Perth, Benta is surprisingly well known in the WA scaffolding industry despite his age.

Benta has a strong eye for detail and applies innovative, practical & safe advice to solve any solution. AutoCAD is Benta’s expertise with the ability to produce top quality scaffold drawings in both 2D & 3D improve on-site efficiency and reduce misconception.

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General Committee Member - WA
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General Committee Member - WA
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The SAA looks forward to receiving your application of membership and if you are keen to become a state based committee member, we want to hear from you!

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