# Scaffolding - Base Width Question



## ZachElwood

This might be a stupid question, but I'm prepared to be flamed  

OSHA states that "Supported scaffolds with a height to base width ratio of more than 4:1 must be restrained by guying, tying, bracing, or an equivalent means."

I'm wondering this: if the base width is the determining measurement, what's to stop a scaffold from having a really large base width (by extending it with outriggers) but yet being really skinny in the other dimension? It seems like if the base width was really wide, but it was short in the other dimension, it could still go up very high according to the regulation but yet be very unstable. 

Hope that makes sense.

Zach


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## Gough

ZachElwood said:


> This might be a stupid question, but I'm prepared to be flamed
> 
> OSHA states that "Supported scaffolds with a height to base width ratio of more than 4:1 must be restrained by guying, tying, bracing, or an equivalent means."
> 
> I'm wondering this: if the base width is the determining measurement, what's to stop a scaffold from having a really large base width (by extending it with outriggers) but yet being really skinny in the other dimension? It seems like if the base width was really wide, but it was short in the other dimension, it could still go up very high according to the regulation but yet be very unstable.
> 
> Hope that makes sense.
> 
> Zach


I don't have the OSHA rules handy, but I'd bet that they may define "width" as the narrowest base dimension. It seems as if a lot of scaffold companies sell rolling tower packages that come with outriggers (or the new rolling tower base frames that amount to the same thing) and are 26 feet tall. If they were 28 feet or taller, they'd be in violation of the 4:1 ratio for a 7-foot system. On the other hand, by adding another stack of frames and going to a tower that is 14-feet long, that allows you to go higher. 

I tend to tie off or brace the tower before the OSHA rules for it kick in, maybe it's because I don't bounce as well as I used to.


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## ZachElwood

Thanks, Gough. I realize now that it is supposed to be minimum base width. It's strange, though - in the actual OSHA regulations, it doesn't use that terminology. It just says 'base width'.


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