Bridge Comparison

We've been asked quite a lot lately why we don't make a 21-foot bridge unit that can be bolted to a single 7-foot-wide tower like you see in the diagram. That way the end user could erect these "mini-mast climbers" every 21 feet down the wall and connect them with planks. Sounds like a nifty idea - fewer towers to buy and fewer picks to move it. We studied the idea at length and concluded it did not meet our zero-collapse safety standard.

---

We would like to show you how we employ a bridge unit and why ours has never collapsed.

The Non-Stop bridge is 14 feet long and connects between two towers only. It cannot be attached to a single tower. It employs a fool-proof lock-on connection with NO nuts and bolts. Forklifts can land materials anywhere without threatening the stability of the scaffold. And Non-Stop winches have about twice the cranking power of any other brand so lifting the bridge when it’s loaded with materials is easy.

That’s it. Simple, SAFE, and effective. And the Non-Stop bridge unit has never collapsed. In our opinion, this is the safest way to employ a bridge.

---

Now let's look at a 21-foot bridge bolted to a single tower and worked like a “mini mast-climber.” This is where the problems begin.

CAN CAUSE 

When you land a pallet of materials on the end of the platform instead of the middle, the structure can collapse. Common sense might tell you that's not a safe place to land a pallet of block, but a forklift driver in a hurry might land materials anywhere he can. Besides, no one expects the scaffold to collapse just by landing a pallet of block.

This practice is specifically forbidden by the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers: EM385 22.J.06:  Bridges will not be permitted on a single tower and used as
a “mini-mast climbing scaffold”.

Another more dangerous variation of this occurs when two of these “mini mast-climbers” are erected seven feet apart and connected with planks. Customers might think they are getting “more scaffold for less money” or be able to “move 21 feet of scaffolding at a time.”

A pallet of materials landed on the planks can cause BOTH towers to collapse. That's 49 feet of scaffolding going down all at once.

CAN CAUSE

In a perfect world where our workers don't make mistakes, this might be a workable system; however, we don't think the average forklift driver is qualified to decide how much weight can be cantilevered on the side of a scaffold before it will tip over. In our opinion, it is better engineering practice to design a scaffold system that will support a pallet of materials anywhere you land it without fear of collapse.