SMART Scaffolder’s SMART Inspector mobile app is used to log more than 365,000 weekly scaffold inspections across the industry.

Regular reports give site managers a view of the most common failures and help target preventative measures effectively.

It is a legal requirement of the Work At Height Regulations 2005 to conduct weekly scaffolding inspections.

The SMART Inspector app does away with the time-consuming and often flawed paper record systems.

A review of anonymous feedback gathered from across all of SMART Inspector’s users shows obstructions (50%), debris (14%) and board condition (10%) are the most common faults reported.

Other common faults included missing guard-rails and toe-boards, materials stacked above toe-boards, damaged cladding, missing ties, undermined foundations and missing ladders.

Robert Ramsay of scaffolding contractor Enigma Industrial Services said: “The Inspection app has been a revelation for us, in terms of safety, efficiency and sharing data with our clients.

“A lot of our work is industrial, where there are great number of obstacles like pipework to avoid during the scaffold process.

“These can be a major cause of the biggest contributor to accidents in our sector – slips, trips and falls. But the quality and accuracy of the SMART Inspector app massively reduces the exposure to these risks, thanks to an improved inspection process and clearer, simpler reporting of scaffold faults using technology and images.”

Shane Watson of Amphibian Scaffolding added: “Working in both the commercial and house building sectors we have found SMART Inspector invaluable in highlighting reoccurring problems on particular sites, meaning that we are able to identify where boards and ties are being regularly removed by trades and where scaffolds are left in a mess with potential trip hazards.”

SMART Inspector was initially developed in partnership with Lyndon Scaffolding.

Lyndon SGB managing director, Rob Lynch said: “We are more than happy with the SMART Inspector app, which has not only improved the quality of our reports but also transformed the efficiency, leading to better and safer scaffolds.”

Ian Chambers, Sales and Marketing Director at SMART Scaffolder, said: “It’s undeniable that our software is having a profoundly positive influence on the safety of scaffolds right across the country, through radically improved inspection quality and the online reporting of faults.

“We are thrilled so many good quality outfits are getting on board with paperless, more accurate inspections using our software.”