Yes, you can. Plywood is used in the scaffolding and access world every day. On a large-scale industrial project, plywood can be one of the largest consumable costs depending on the facility and the type of scaffold.
Uses of plywood in access scaffolding
- Covering a large area on scaffolds to reduce the scaffold plank count. Also known as skip planking.
- Covering large area scaffold for a rolling tower to be erected on top of it to reach different elevations of a unique design.
- Covering gaps where piping and other objects stick up through the platform where additional planning cannot fit.
Do you know how wide is a scaffold board ? The width is 225 mm, 3.9 m length, and 38 mm thickness
– P. Pierson
Safety requirements
The occupational safety and health administrative requires that all scaffolds:
- Must be designed by qualified personnel.
- Must be handled by an able person to resolve problems resulting from the subject matter.
Factors to consider in selecting plywood
Here are several essential factors to consider when choosing scaffolding plywood:
Face grain direction
Plywood has both a strong direction and a weak direction for carrying loads to support. It is also strongest when the grain direction of the face veneers is perpendicular to the members supporting the plywood.
Number of plies
A greater number of plies improvement randomization of strength reduces characteristics, e.g knots which in turn results in a more consistent product that can be designed using higher allowable stresses.
Point loads implied
Larger loads occurring over a small footprint may require special consideration as they can create an overload for plywood due to either located fibre crushing or rolling shear.
Therefore it is permissible to use plywood as a platform decline material on scaffolding. There are a lot of solutions available to cover gaps from steel plank fillings to smaller planks that hook into the side to cover gaps where protrusions exist but plywood remains the most common in the marketplace today.