Masonry Magazine August 2007 Page. 30
SCAFFOLD PLANK
"Any unsuspecting contractor or building material supplier would certainly believe they were purchasing legitimate LVL planks." - John Warlikowski, LVL product manager for Kennison Forest Products Inc.
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chasing legitimate LVL planks. However ... many of the planks had begun to delaminate. Several of the planks had putty applied to the surface to hide missing sections of veneer. That is when [the lab] started noticing all the little things that legitimate manufactures' do to ID their product were also missing: no independent third-party inspection stamp, no face stamp with mill number, and MOE [Modulus of Elasticity) or Fb [Fiber in Bending] rating." Warlikowski said the physical testing of the knock-off plank also was alarming. "Over 80 percent of the planks did not meet the claimed 2.2E, Modulus of Elasticity rating," he said. "Only 30 percent met the minimum L/60 OSHA requirement for deflection. At the end of the day, it was determined that these boards might make an OK mudsill."
Although the SIA's guidelines on purchasing LVL plank are not yet finalized, the following topics are likely to be part of the final draft and would be among the major points of concern for contractors looking to purchase plank: guidelines on the physical/mechanical properties of scaffold plank; preferred manufacturing procedures; proper plank identification markings and codes; recommended literature and standards; and manufacturer/supplier certifications.
Gilleran said of the guidelines: "There are some grey areas within the OSHA and ANSI standards. When they were written so many years ago, probably no one foresaw anything different going on. What this checklist is supposed to do is bridge that gap."
For more information on the guidelines, visit the SIA's website at www.scaffold.org.