A 67.0- painter is on a uniform 21- scaffold supported from above by ropes. There is a 3.8- pail of paint to one side. The ropes are 1m inside the scaffold on each side. The pail is 1m away from the left rope and 3m from the right rope. The scaffold is a 6m. How close to the right end can he approach safely? How close to the left end can he approach safely?
First of all...no units, no answer. Second of all...according to OSHA (Occupation Safety and Health Administration), NO ONE can walk on a scaffold beam outside the support ropes OR SET ANY OBJECT DOWN outside the support ropes. Hence the answers for both questions are 1 meter. It doesn't matter what a calculation will yield...NO ONE can walk on the beam outside the support ropes safely. Even if a torque balance yields that it will not put the ropes in compression and buckle them...it still isn't considered to be safe by OSHA if the painter is outside the ropes.
