With construction on China’s record-breaking ‘Sky City’ tower soon set to restart, it seems clear that our global cityscapes are only going one way. Upwards.
And one Science Fiction writer is even preparing plans – in real life – for a 12-mile-high rocket-launching skyscraper he creatively calls ‘The Tall Tower’.
With this constant clamour for the title of World’s Tallest Building, it seems that in the construction industry at least, size definitely does matter.
But two local news stories brought us back down to earth this week as a reminder of the dangers faced by those working at much more modest heights.
First, a scaffolder working on a loft conversion in Crouch End fell from height and broke a rib. Then, elsewhere in the country, a 3.5 tonne van collided with scaffolding and ripped it several inches from the wall – threatening a complete collapse of the structure as two men worked above.
The road was closed, the police called – and thankfully the structure was secured with no harm done.
Public liability insurance for roofers and scaffolders
The second story, in particular, serves to illustrate the fact that when scaffolding goes wrong, it’s not just the worker in danger.
Vehicles below could be at risk of damage from falling tools and other hazards. The property you’re working on could be damaged by the scaffold structure itself. And of course there’s a risk of personal injury – not just to you but to your employees and the general public walking below.
With such specific risks to guard against, standard business liability insurance isn’t really an option. Not least because the higher you work, the more you will struggle to find a regular business liability policy willing to cover you at all.
Instead, you’ll need specialist roofers and scaffolders insurance, designed specifically to protect you in today’s litigious construction environment.
Get a quote from QuoteRack's expert brokers today, and make sure next time you scale the scaffold, you do so with the very highest level of insurance cover.