Scaffolding in the oil, gas and chemical industry

Scaffolding for the oil, gas and chemical industry

Scaffolding is essential for the construction and maintenance of oil, gas, and chemical plants. They provide safe access to hard-to-reach areas such as offshore oil platforms or rectification columns in refineries, where tasks such as painting, insulation or installation works are carried out. Scaffolding is also used as support elements for piping tubes or racks during assembly.

The assembly and dismantling of scaffolding in such plants is often a complex matter. Not only are the safety requirements for scaffolding in refineries and other plants particularly high, but tight schedules must also be adhered to for scaffold erection and dismantling during maintenance, shutdowns, or turnarounds.

What requirements must scaffolding meet in oil, gas, and chemical plants?

A scaffold erected in an oil refinery, LNG tankers, or at pipelines must meet the individual requirements of the respective plant owner. For example, in most cases, only cleaned scaffold material may be brought into the respective facility to avoid contamination with dirt. Especially where chemicals and crude oil or high heat are involved, only fire-resistant scaffold material such as steel may be used. Some operators also require that the falling of small parts from the scaffold, for example, be prevented by gap fill decks.

Since shutdowns, turnovers, and closedowns of an oil, gas, or chemical plant are all timed according to a tight schedule to keep downtime as short as possible, scaffolding must not hinder ongoing work processes as much as possible.

Which scaffold types are used in the oil, gas and chemical industries?

Just as in the construction industry, there are also various scaffolding solutions to choose from for different projects in the oil, gas, and chemical industry. The two most popular options are modular scaffolding and suspended scaffolding.

1. Modular scaffolds in the oil, gas and chemical industries

In order to carry out diverse work on pipes, boilers, or ovens, you need scaffolding that is not only safe but also versatile in use. Modular scaffolds are particularly suitable for this purpose, as they can be flexibly adapted to different shapes. Especially in industrial plants, angled spaces must be scaffolded, and machinery and other areas must be bridged to avoid disrupting ongoing work processes.

Modular scaffolds are characterized by their durability and higher load-bearing capacity, allowing them to be used not only as work platforms but also, for example, to support pipes in industrial plants.

2. Suspended scaffolds in the oil, gas, and chemical industries

Especially when the transport of scaffold material into the facility is difficult or the scaffold cannot be built from the ground up, suspended scaffolds pay off. They allow for quick access to elevated fixtures such as cooling towers, pressure vessels, and pipelines without the need to assemble complex structures from the ground.

You can see what this looks like in practice in the animation of our suspended scaffold system RINGSCAFF Sky.

Scafom-rux supports you with high-quality scaffolding systems and scaffold services for refineries, tanks, distillation towers, and other facilities in the oil, gas, and chemical industry. For more information, contact our team or download our brochure on our scaffolding solutions for the oil and gas industry.