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Scaffolding is one of the trades insurers scrutinise hardest — a standing structure over a public footway, heavy hired-in components going up and coming down, and a direct liability for anyone working beneath it or passing by. Across a Trowbridge working week that can mean an access scaffold on a market-town retail frontage one day, a birdcage inside a light-industrial unit the next, and a contract for a public-sector or construction client after that. Apex arranges cover that reflects how a scaffolding firm actually operates, placed by a named broker who will present your design standards and inspection regime properly to the insurers who understand this work rather than decline it.
Trowbridge is a Wiltshire market town, and the mix of work available shapes the exposure an underwriter is pricing for a local scaffolding firm. These are the patterns that matter when we present your risk.
Wind loading on a standing structure. A scaffold left up over nights, weekends and long refurbishment programmes is exposed to whatever the weather does in your absence. Wind lift on sheeting and debris netting, and storm movement of a partly struck or altered scaffold, feed directly into both contract works and public liability exposure — which is why insurers care how ties and bracing are specified and recorded.
Tight market-town access. Erecting over a busy retail footway or a narrow trade-unit yard means restricted loading, limited storage, and working at height above pedestrians and other trades. Constrained access is a core reason the trade is rated as it is, and it drives the pedestrian-protection measures underwriters expect to see.
Heavy hired-in components. Tube-and-fitting and system scaffold is heavy, is mostly on hire, and is handled repeatedly as jobs are altered and struck. The value at risk under your hire conditions, and the potential for a dropped component to injure someone below, should both be reflected in the sums insured and the liability limit.
Work at Height Regulations 2005 duties — central to every scaffold, from a domestic access tower to a full construction elevation.
Scaffold designed to a recognised standard — TG20 compliance for standard configurations, or a bespoke engineered design where the scaffold falls outside those tables. Underwriters expect the design basis to be clear.
Handover certificates issued to the client or principal contractor when a scaffold is completed or altered, confirming it is fit for use.
Recorded inspections — at least every seven days, and after any alteration or event (such as high winds) that could affect stability, with the reports kept.
CISRS cards for operatives and CDM 2015 duties on larger contracts, where you may carry contractor responsibilities on site.
A scaffold collapses or a section fails, injuring people or damaging property below — public liability responds, subject to policy terms.
A tube, board, fitting or bag of materials falls into a market-town street and strikes a passer-by — public liability responds.
Another trade or a member of the client's staff is injured working beneath your scaffold — public liability territory.
An employed or labour-only erector falls during erecting or striking — employers' liability responds; RIDDOR/HSE involvement likely.
Storm moves or damages a standing scaffold before hand-back — contract works, with the liability position turning on your inspection records.
Hired-in tube, fittings or a hoist are stolen from site or the yard — hired-in plant and tools cover, subject to security conditions and your hire agreement.
A bespoke design proves inadequate and causes loss — professional indemnity territory, where you carried the design responsibility.
Tell us about your business and we’ll place it on the specialist market — or leave your number and a named broker calls you back, usually the same working day.
