End guard rail

The guard rail fitted across the open end of each scaffold lift, sized to the scaffold width, to close the fall edge at the stop end.

Also called: end rail, stop-end rail, double end guard rail, end guard frame, end side protection

A facade scaffold has two open ends. Exactly where the scaffold stops, there would be a fall edge across its full width without protection. The end guard rail closes this gap. It is fitted across the scaffold at the last frame or the last standards and, with an end toe board, forms the side protection at the stop end.

It is one of the parts most often forgotten, for instance where the scaffold ends at a building corner or meets another scaffold and then does not quite connect. Site crews have a few blunt nicknames for it for that reason.

Variants and widths

The length equals the scaffold width: typically 0.73 m on painters' and renderers' scaffolds and 1.09 m on bricklaying scaffolds of about 1.00–1.09 m depth.

• Single end rail: a short tube fixed to the frame like a longitudinal rail. Full protection needs two, at top and intermediate height.
• Double end rail: two rails joined in one part, often with welded half couplers.
• End guard frame: plugged onto the top frame, carrying top and intermediate rails above the last lift.
• Modular scaffold: usually a tubular ledger of bay width, wedged in at rail and intermediate height.

The same dimensions apply as for the guard rail: top edge no lower than 1.0 m, intermediate rail at about mid-height, a toe board at the bottom.

Fitting

1. Finish decking the lift and fit the outer longitudinal rail.
2. Locate the connections on the end frame, whether tilting pin, rail socket, rosette or tube for a half coupler; on the top lift, place guard rail posts.
3. Offer up the end rail from the inside and secure it: close the pin, strike the wedge or tighten the coupler bolts.
4. With single rails, add the second at intermediate height, then insert the end toe board.
5. Shake it firmly: it must not come unhooked.

On frame scaffolds the end connections are already prepared on the frame; you just need the right part for the width. On modular scaffolds a ledger can be wedged across at any node, but an end toe board must be planned specifically.

What to check

• Every working lift, both ends, the bottom lift included.
• Only where two scaffolds join seamlessly around a corner can the end protection be omitted.
• Tighten half coupler bolts on double end rails and check that they turn freely.
• Short rails are often misused as a lever or a step; scrap bent ones.
• When buying used, check end fittings, welds and coupler threads, and choose the right width, 0.73 or 1.09 m. See guard rails.