Guidelines on the Design and Construction of Bamboo Scaffolds

These guidelines provide good practices for the design and construction of bamboo scaffolds commonly used in Hong Kong. Recommended practices on the design, erection, maintenance and dismantling of bamboo scaffolds are given. Detailed standards of design and construction of some types of simple bamboo scaffold, including double-layered, truss-out and signboard bamboo scaffolds are given in Section 2 of Part B of these guidelines with typical examples for each of these types of bamboo scaffold. When the recommended standards are not followed for the design and construction of these types of simple bamboo scaffold or when other types of bamboo scaffold not covered in Section 2 of Part B of these guidelines are used, the bamboo scaffold should be designed by a design engineer with a performance-based design approach.   These guidelines aim to ensure the structural safety and stability of bamboo scaffolds during their lifetime. In this connection, apart from the main frame of the bamboo scaffold, technical requirements for the putlogs, nylon strips, drilled-in anchors and steel brackets are also given. The Buildings Department should be notified whenever bamboo scaffolds are to be erected.