Pennsylvania Act 1907-67 — SCAFFOLDS, LADDERS, ETC., USED IN CONSTRUCTION REGULATED

Act text

SCAFFOLDS, LADDERS, ETC., USED IN CONSTRUCTION REGULATED
                  Act of Apr. 15, 1907, P.L. 81, No. 67               Cl. 11
                                  AN ACT

     To regulate the construction, maintenance, and inspection of
        scaffolding, or slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, stays,
        braces, ladders, irons or ropes, that are used in the
        construction, alteration, repairing, painting, cleaning, or
        pointing of buildings, within the limits of cities of the
        first, second, and third class; and providing punishment for
        violation of the provisions of this act.

        Compiler's Note:  Section 4701 of Act 317 of 1931 provided
            that Act 67 is repealed insofar as it relates to third
            class cities.
        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c., That whenever complaint is
     made to the mayor, director of public safety, superintendent of
     police, or other persons in charge of the police force, in any
     city of the first, second or third class in this State, that the
     scaffolding, or slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys, stays, braces,
     ladders, irons, or ropes of any sling or stationary scaffolding,
     used in the construction, alteration, repairing, painting,
     cleaning, or pointing of buildings, within the limits of any
     city aforesaid, are unsafe, or liable to prove dangerous to life
     or limb of any person, such mayor, director of public safety,
     superintendent of police, or other person in charge of the
     police force, shall immediately cause an inspection to be made
     of such scaffolding, or the slings, hangers, blocks, pulleys,
     stays, braces, ladders, irons, ropes or other parts connected
     therewith. If, after examination, such scaffolding or any of
     such parts is found to be dangerous to life or limb, the mayor,
     director of public safety, superintendent of police, or other
     persons in charge of the police force, shall prohibit the use
     thereof, and require the same to be altered and reconstructed so
     as to avoid such danger. The person directed to make such
     inspection shall attach such certificate to the scaffolding, or
     the slings, hangers, irons, ropes, or other parts thereof,
     examined by him, stating that he has made such examination, and
     that he has found it safe or unsafe, as the case may be. If he
     declare it unsafe, he shall at once, in writing, notify the
     person responsible for its erection of the fact, and warn them
     against the use thereof.  Such notice shall be served personally
     upon the person responsible for the erecting, or by
     conspicuously affixing it to the scaffolding or part thereof to
     be declared unsafe. After such notice has been so served or
     affixed, the person responsible therefor shall immediately
     remove such scaffolding or part thereof, and alter or strengthen
     it in such manner as to render it safe, in the discretion of the
     person who has examined it, or of his superiors. Any person
     whose duty it is to examine or test any scaffolding or part
     thereof, as required by this act, shall have free access at all
     reasonable hours to any building or premises containing them, or
     where they may be used.
        Section 2.  If any scaffolding or staging, swung or suspended
     from an overhead support or supports, shall be more than ten
     feet from the ground or floor, the same shall be deemed
     unsuitable and improper, and as not giving proper protection to
     the life and limb of any person employed or engaged thereon,
     unless such scaffolding or staging shall, when the same is in
     use, have a safety-rail, rising at least thirty-four inches
     above the floor or main portion of such scaffolding or staging,
     and extending along the outside thereof the entire length of the
     outside thereof, properly attached thereto, and unless such
     scaffolding or staging shall be provided with braces so as to
     sustain the weight of a man's body leaning against it, and
     prevent the scaffolding or staging from swaying from the
     building or structure.
        Section 3.  All swinging and stationary scaffolding shall be
     so constructed as to bear four times the maximum weight to be
     dependent therefrom or placed thereon when in use, and not more
     than three men shall be allowed on any swinging scaffolding at
     one time.
        Section 4.  Any person who violates, or omits to comply with,
     any of the foregoing provisions of this act, or who suffers or
     permits the use of any article or scaffolding declared by a
     proper officer to be defective, or who destroys or defaces any
     notice posted in accordance with the provisions of this act, or
     who hinders or obstructs any officer who may be detailed to
     enforce its provisions, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,
     and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not
     exceeding five hundred dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding
     six months, or both, at the discretion of the court.