Facade Scaffolding Fire

Abstract

Building, dismantling or working on scaffolding is not usually the kind of work technicians would associate with fires. The inferno at Notre-Dame Cathedral on 15 April 2019 has since shed a different light on the possibility of scaffolding fires and how they are investigated. The purpose of this article is to draw the attention of designers, contractors and, of course, investors to the serious fire risk that scaffolding as a building support structure, in addition to the many “classic” sources of accidents, can pose, not only to those working on it, but also, where appropriate, to those staying inside the scaffolded building and, indeed, to the building itself.