21.08.2015

Middle Age access

A reader from Switzerland has sent us a photo of a platform being uses in the Neftenbach area of Winterthur - to the north of Zurich - with the comment: "Being mobile is everything”.
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The mobile wood scaffold in action near Wintherthur

It is hard to know if this is a locally 'cobbled together' scaffold, copied from a sketch dating back to the Middle Ages, or one of the wooden scaffolds that were still in use in Germany and Switzerland as recently as the mid 1990s?

Compared to most of the home made access solutions/platforms that we see, this one is pretty good, certainly very solid with some serious thought to the structure. Even the mounting to the trailer looks sound enough, until one looks at how – or how not – it is stabilised. Sadly we do not have photos from the back end, but the front seems to rely on the jockey wheel for stability. And no consideration seems to have been given to lateral stability. Other key failings include the ladder access and incomplete guard-railing.

We imagine though that the farmer or owner finds this a very useful if inflexible access tower. But surely it would have been simpler to have rented a trailer lift or scissor lift? There are plenty available in Winterthur and are so much more efficient.

Not the worst example we have seen by any stretch, but it certainly qualifies for the Death Wish series. And a good one for a Friday afternoon. Have a safe weekend.
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Looks like the platform was reversed in to position