Wti Scaffold Blog

Charges carrying fines of up toTwo companies are facing dozens of charges in connection with a fatal workplace incident which occurred on Christmas Eve last year.The fines is up to $17,000,000.The charges are for failure to ensure workers used proper devices to prevent them from falling, failure to ensure the platform the men were working on wasn’t overloaded, failure to ensure the platform was designed in accordance with regulations, and failure to ensure workers were properly trained and following safety policies, among many other things.

Metron Construction Corp., which employed the four Eastern Europeans, and the company supervisor, along with Swing “N” Scaff, which supplied the scaffolding the victims were using as they repaired balconies at the Kipling Ave. apartment building, and a director from that company, have been slapped with dozens of charges, the ministry of labour announced Saturday after wrapping up its seven-month investigation.Individual executives and supervisors at the companies could also face years in jail after a total of 61 charges were issued by the provincial labour ministry Saturday.

They come after an exhaustive, seven-month investigation into the Dec. 24th incident, which saw five eastern European workers fall 13 storeys from the side of a Kipling Ave. apartment building.

One of the workers miraculously survived.

Some 30 charges were brought under the Occupational Health and Safety Act against Metron Construction Corporation, who employed the workers. Another 16 were levelled against a director of that company and eight more against a Metron supervisor, said ministry spokesperson Matt Blajer.

Platform supplier Swing ‘N’ Scaff faces four charges while three were laid against a director of the company.

Each of the corporate charges carries a potential $500,000 fine, Blajer said.

Penalties for the unnamed individuals range up to $25,000 in fines and a year in jail for each allegation.

The tragedy, the city’s worst workplace accident in a generation, sparked a provincial review of the system that protects Ontario workers and a safety blitz of construction sites.

The blitz led to the shutdown of 784 dangerous jobs on sites throughout Ontario.

Together Saturday’s charges paint a picture of shoddy or absent maintenance, supervision and construction and a woeful lack of safety training at the Kipling Ave. site.

“Generally speaking the charges relate to 12 major points,” Blajer says.

Together the charges paint a picture of shoddy or absent maintenance and supervision, and a woeful lack of safety training and equipment.

None of the charges has been proved in court.

“Generally speaking the charges relate to 12 major points,” Blajer says.

The charges allege “failure to ensure workers use proper devices to prevent them from falling… failure to ensure the platform was not overloaded (and) failure to ensure the platform was designed in accordance with regulations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act,” he said.

Charges also relate to allegations of inadequate training, instruction and supervision on fall prevention, a failure to ensure the platform was supplied in good condition and a lack of proper maintenance and adequate inspection.

The hope is that other companies will see that charges have been laid in this case and get serious about protecting workers, Blajer said.

Ministry stop work orders on the site were issued against Metron at least twice in the months leading up to the accident, mostly dealing with safety concerns.

The ministry had issued stop work orders to Metron on at least two occasions prior to the deadly accident because of safety concerns. When the scaffolding failed, father of two Vladimir Korostin, from Uzbekistan, newly married refugee claimant Aleksey Blumberg, from Ukraine, Russian Alexander Bondorev and Fayzullo Fazilov, all fell to their deaths.

John Cartwright, president of the Toronto and York Region Labour Council, said the charges point to a serious and thorough investigation by the ministry.

“I would say I’m very pleased that the ministry has obviously combed all of the details of what happened at this tragic event,” Cartwright said.

He said, however, that criminal charges should be brought against the employers, in order to further deter others in the “underground economy” who often take advantage of migrant workers.

Some employers “really prey on immigrant workers, refugees who don’t feel they have any right to stand up to for proper safety conditions or demand the proper training necessary,” he said.

The dead included 40-year-old Vladimir Korostin, a father of two from Uzbekistan who was seeking refugee status in Canada.

Also killed were Aleksey Blumberg, a newly married refugee claimant from Ukraine, and Russian Alexander Bondorev.

Fayzullo Fazilov 31, perished as well, while a fifth man, Dilshod Marupov, who managed to hang onto the collapsed platform momentarily before falling, suffered serious leg and spinal injuries.

Metron president Joel Swartz did not reply to email requests for comment.

Hearings into the charges will begin at the Ontario court of justice in Toronto on Sept. 30.

In January, bowing to pressure from organized labour and relatives of victims, Queen’s Park said it would review the system that protects workers in this province.

Tony Dean, the respected former head of the Ontario Public Service, was named to chair a panel of safety experts, labour groups and employers to recommend changes by next fall.

Since 1990, more than 400 workers have been killed in construction mishaps.

Premier Dalton McGuinty said he was “absolutely committed” to ensuring the safety of work sites.

“I would be eager to receive any recommendations to see what more we may do to make sure that our construction sites are safe,” McGuinty said.

The expert advisory panel will go beyond the construction industry to review the entire system of occupational health, safety, prevention and enforcement, Labour Minister Peter Fonseca said at the time. “Even one death or injury in a workplace is too many,” he said.

“There are regulations and people are supposed to obey the law,” ministry spokesman Matt Blajer said Saturday. “Obviously, we feel the law was not obeyed and we’ve laid charges.”

The ministry inspected about 2,800 other work sites in the wake of the accident and issued stop work orders after finding many similar infractions, he said.

A fifth worker, Dilshod Marupov, somehow managed to survive the fall, but he suffered serious leg and spinal injuries.

 As we know ,a lot of accidents happened because of scaffold constructions.And it means we should pay more attention to those security problem.And the company should take care of those workers in the respective of infrastructure and the knowledge of security.

The National Construction College (NCC) is urging scaffold inspectors who qualified before May 2007 to retrain or risk losing their right to inspect, following new guidance from the National Access and Scaffolding Confederation (NASC), which includes the introduction of a new inspection course.

Under the new guidance, which came out this summer, scaffold inspectors can no longer qualify based purely on their attendance record and must now receive a pass mark before they can legally inspect scaffold and apply for an inspection card. This means that hundreds of inspectors will now need to retrain to obtain the new carded qualification before working as an inspector.

The new qualification aims to raise standards within the industry by providing a uniform approach to qualifying scaffold inspectors, therefore ensuring the safety of the workforce. It has been welcomed by the industry, which has the highest proportion of reported injuries caused by falls from a height, which account for 17% of accidents compared with 8% in other industries (Health and Safety Executive).

National Construction College Access Manager, Allen Robertson, said: “Each year construction workers are injured by trips, slips and falls, with a proportion of these taking place when working with scaffold. That’s why it’s essential that the industry has fully trained inspectors to ensure scaffolding is safe and sturdy and meets industry standards.

“The new Scaffold Inspection Training Scheme will provide the industry with a scheme that has both the quality and the rigour to provide competent scaffold inspectors. It will help to improve safety whilst reducing the business costs incurred during repair and maintenance and lost man hours at a time when being cost effective is essential. We encourage scaffold inspectors to act now and book onto one of our courses to ensure they obtain the new required qualification to inspect.”

Delegates at the courses will be required to have some awareness and experience of scaffold structures prior to enrolling. Each course will host a maximum of 12 people to ensure full attention from instructors, helping to further improve industry standards, and will cover topics such as regulations and approved Codes of Practice, tubes, boards and fittings, scaffolding terminology, practical inspection and reports.

The new course must be delivered at a Construction Industry Scaffolders Record Scheme (CISRS) approved centre, such as the National Construction College, which is the largest construction training provider in Europe. The College’sCISRS approved instructors will be delivering the course at four of its seven campuses, including NCC Scotland in Renfrewshire, NCC Midlands in Birmingham, NCC East in Norfolk and NCC South in Kent, in addition to at a range of regional locations.

The College offers a wide range of scaffolding and access courses for workers throughout their careers, including Scaffolding Part 1 and 2, Scaffold Safety Inspection, Experienced Worker Practical Assessment and NVQ Level 2 and 3 Practical Assessment.

VANCOUVER, Aug. 3 /CNW/ – WesternOne Equity Income Fund (”WesternOne Equity”) (TSX: WEQ.UN, WEQ.DB and WEQ.DB.B) today announced that it has signed a letter of intent (the “LOI”) for the purchase of the assets of an engineered scaffold business that specializes in the rental, sales, installation and servicing of scaffold equipment (the “Business”). The Business is independently owned, and operates from a base in Calgary with operations covering Northern and Southern Alberta. The LOI contemplates WesternOne Equity paying at closing a purchase price of $6.0 million, plus $1.0 million upon completion of the first 12 months of operations post acquisition, provided a pre-determined earnings level is achieved. The purchase price is subject to post-closing adjustments. The transaction is expected to be completed, subject to due diligence and other customary conditions, by September 2010.

WesternOne Equity will finance this transaction using a combination of existing cash, debt and issuance of fund units to existing shareholders of the Business.

This transaction would be immediately accretive to WesternOne Equity’s unitholders. The Business is estimated by its management to have earned approximately $1.8 million EBITDA for the trailing 12 months ended May 31, 2010, based on unaudited financial information. WesternOne Equity’s management also expects the product and service offering of the Business to be further leveraged at WesternOne Equity’s 14 existing operating locations in BC and Alberta.

Further details will be announced upon the entering into of a formal acquisition agreement and after the completion of the transaction.

“We are excited about this transaction, in particular the opportunity to strategically expand our product offering to include engineered scaffold products and related services,” stated Mr. Geoff Shorten, COO of WesternOne Equity. “This transaction would allow us to enhance our market share in Western Canada by offering our customers a more complete range of equipment rental services.”

Forward Looking Information

Certain statements in this press release may constitute “forward looking” information that involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, and it may cause actual results, performance or achievements or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Forward-looking information is identified by the use of terms and phrases such as “anticipate”, “believe”, “could”, “estimate”, “expect”, “intend”, “may”, “plan”, “predict”, “project”, “will”, “would”, and similar terms and phrases, including references to assumptions. Such information may involve but is not limited to comments with respect to strategies, expectations, planned operations or future actions.

Forward-looking information included in this press release include, but is not limited to, statements with respect to the outlook of the transaction currently contemplated in the LOI, its projected impact on WesternOne Equity’s business and management’s assessment of future plans and operations. Forward-looking information reflects current expectations of management regarding future events and operating performance as of the date of this press release. Such information involves significant risks and uncertainties, should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results, and will not necessarily be accurate indications of whether or not such results will be achieved. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from the results discussed in the forward-looking information, and a description of these factors can be found under “Risks and Uncertainties” in WesternOne Equity’s Annual Information Form dated March 31, 2010, which is available on SEDAR .

Although the forward-looking information contained in this press release is based upon what the WesternOne Equity’s management believes to be reasonable assumptions, WesternOne Equity cannot assure investors that actual results will be consistent with such information. Forward-looking information reflects management’s current beliefs and is based on information currently available to WesternOne Equity. Such information reflects current assumptions regarding future events and operating performance including, without limitation, stability in the economy in Western Canada, interest rates and the equipment rental and sales and fuel wholesale markets in which WesternOne Equity operates, successful completion of the investigation, acquisition and integration of new business opportunities, and speaks only as of the date of this press release. The forward-looking information is made as of the date of this press release and WesternOne Equity assumes no obligation to update or revise such information to reflect new events or circumstances, except as may be required by applicable law.

These days people usually don’t die from a heart attack. But the damage to heart muscle is irreversible, and most patients eventually succumb to congestive heart failure, the most common cause of death in developed countries.

Stem cells now offer hope for achieving what the body can’t do: mending broken hearts. Engineers and physicians at the University of Washington have built a  scaffold that supports the growth and integration of stem cell-derived cardiac muscle cells. A description of the scaffold, which supports the growth of cardiac cells in the lab and encourages blood vessel growth in living animals, is published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“Today, if you have a heart attack there’s nothing that doctors can do to repair the damage,” said lead author Buddy Ratner, a UW professor of bioengineering. “You are, in essence, sentenced to a downhill slide, developing congestive heart failure that greatly shortens your lifespan.

“Your body can’t make new heart cells, but what if we can deliver vital new cells in that damaged portion of the heart?”

Ratner and his colleagues built a tiny tubular porous scaffold that supports and stabilizes the fragile cardiac cells and can be injected into a damaged heart, where it will foster cell growth and eventually dissolve away. The new scaffold not only supports cardiac muscle growth, but potentially accelerates the body’s ability to supply oxygen and nutrients to the transplanted tissue. Eventually, the idea is that doctors would seed the scaffold with stem cells from either the patient or a donor, then implant it when the patient is treated for a heart attack, before scar tissue has formed.

Other heart scaffolds or tissue patches currently being developed combine cardiac muscle cells and two other types of cells needed to kick-start the growth of blood vessels and connective tissue. Preparing each type of cells is an enormous amount of work, so a scaffold that requires just one type of cell, like this one, would be significantly cheaper and easier to use.

Ratner’s scaffold is a flexible polymer with interconnected pores all of the same size. This one also includes channels to accommodate cardiac cells’ preference for fusing together in long chains. Researchers first verified the design using chicken embryonic heart cells, and confirmed that the scaffold could support heart tissue growth at concentrations similar to those in living heart tissue.

They then seeded the scaffold with cardiac muscle cells derived from human embryonic stem cells. These cells survived and collected in the channels. Over five days, the cardiac muscle cells multiplied faster in the scaffold environment than other cell types, and could survive up to 300 micrometers (about the diameter of four human hairs) from the scaffold edge — an important point if the scaffold is to integrate with the body.

The cells expressed two proteins associated with muscle contraction and could contract with sufficient force to deform the scaffold.

Researchers also implanted a bare scaffold into a living rat’s heart to verify the scaffold’s biocompatibility. Results showed that after four weeks the heart had accepted the foreign body, and new blood vessels had penetrated into the scaffold.

Why blood vessels penetrate so well is unknown. One hypothesis involves the macrophage, a cell in the immune system, and the size of the pores, which seems to be critical. The macrophages first attack the foreign body as an invader and try to digest it. They enter the pores and are themselves entrapped. At this point the macrophage seems to switch from its attack mode to its healing mode. The team is now investigating the blood vessel formation.

Heart tissues need a rich blood supply, and that’s been one of the limiting factors to heart repair and vascular tissue engineering, said co-author Chuck Murry, professor of pathology and bioengineering.

“The first thing that transplanted heart cells have to do is survive. And when you transition them from a culture dish to the body, initially they don’t have a blood supply. So we have to promote the host blood supply as fast as possible,” Murry said.

“We’re very optimistic that this scaffold will help keep the muscle cells alive after implantation and will help transition them to working heart muscles,” Murry said.

The scaffold is made from a jelly-like hydrogel material developed by first author, UW bioengineering doctoral student Lauran Madden. A needle is used to implant the tiny (third of a millimeter wide by 4 millimeters long) scaffold rods into the heart muscle. But the scaffold can support growth of larger clumps of heart tissue, Madden said.

The next steps will involve adjusting the scaffold degradation time so that the scaffold degrades at the same rate that cardiac cells proliferate and that blood vessels and support fibers grow in, and then implant a cell-laden scaffold into a damaged heart.

“What we have now is a really good system going in the dish, and we’re working to transition it to in the body,” Madden said.

Beat BioTherapeutics, a Seattle startup co-founded by Ratner, Murry and co-author Michael Laflamme, a UW assistant professor of pathology, plans to license the technology to help bring it to patients.
Co-authors are Eric Sussman, Janet Cuy and Kip Hauch in UW bioengineering, Sarah Dupras and James Fugate in UW pathology, and Derek Mortisen, a UW chemical engineering graduate.

Commerce Parkway soon could be a flurry of new business activity. Two Ellis County manufacturing companies approached Hays city commissioners Thursday evening and requested 10-year, 100-percent property tax abatements.

Wheelchairs of Kansas is looking to expand operations at 500 Commerce Parkway. The business would retain its current operations in Ellis. A-1 Scaffold Manufacturing, a new company formed in the aftermath of A-1 Plank and Scaffold Manufacturing’s bankruptcy, would be located at 590 Commerce Parkway.

The city’s economic development policy allows for a 10-year tax abatement for manufacturing companies fixed on a sliding scale. The policy does allow full abatements for 10 years, but only for research and development businesses.

Commissioner Troy Hickman spoke in favor of considering an exception.

“These two businesses have been in Ellis County for a long time,” Hickman said. “They’ve had proven track records have been good community employers for the county. So I’m kind of of the mind, that in these particular cases, we may want to consider waiving that policy and give them the opportunity for the 10-year abatement.”

Other commissioners weren’t so sure. Henry Schwaller IV expressed concern about the precedent these exemptions could set, and said the commission established its current policy for a reason.

“I am not opposed to looking at a 100-percent abatement for 10 years,” Schwaller said. “I do think, though, that does puts the policy in jeopardy, and we have to think about what our rationale is.”

Discussion will continue at Thursday’s regular meeting, at which time the commission could set a public hearing for Aug. 26.

Wheelchairs of Kansas produces a variety of medical equipment, including bed frames and mattresses, wheelchairs, and walkers for institutional and home use. The company, which specializes in equipment for bariatric patients, now has more than 65 locations globally and is growing in Canada and Europe.

It employs more than 600 people nationwide, and 114 Ellis County residents.

While the company fully intends to invest in Ellis County, the tax abatement could prove a significant help in coming years, said Rod Taylor of Wheelchairs of Kansas.

“Over the last two years, hospitals in general have lost money. … We believe that with health care reform, that’s going to continue, at least, that’s what we’re being told,” he said. “So we know hospitals are going continue to try to squeeze all of their vendors, and of course, that includes us.”

For A-1 Scaffold, the business venture essentially will be a new beginning. The company has plans to scale down its operations, starting with 21 employees the first year of business and adding five more annually.

“From our perspective, it’s basically a re-start of what we have done in the past. We are committed to doing it; we are committed to seeing it in Hays,” said co-owner Jennifer Allenbaugh. “Our goal is to start small, start strong, re-employ some of the good people that became unemployed when our previous company closed up, and get back in the business.”

Other items set for possible action next week include:

* Labor union agreements with the International Association of Firefighters and the Fraternal Order of Police.

The city remains at impasse with its third labor union, Service Employees International Union. Commissioner Ron Mellick asked how these proceedings could affect the city’s budget process. City Manager Toby Dougherty said he has expressed concern to the Kansas Public Employee Relations Board — the state agency coordinating the impasse process — that efforts were not being made in a timely manner regarding the budget process. The commission, however, does have the authority to amend the budget after it is established.

In the future, Dougherty suggested beginning union negotiations earlier in the year. The city began talking with its three groups in March.

* Upgrades to the traffic signal at 13th and Canterbury. It’s possible that work would occur in November, but Public Works Director Brenda

Herrman said efforts would be made to accommodate Hays High School traffic.

The veil  on scaffold !Do you have any idea about this?
THE veil, the Arab cultural wear of burqas and niqabs that has become identified with Islam is being hoisted to be guillotined  not just by the French who are historical professionals in the guillotine business, but also by  a rare mixture of European, Arab and Islamic countries.

The anti-veil coalition of the willing include Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Egypt and Syria; their partners in Europe include Netherlands, France, Belgium and Spain.

The veil had played not just religious, but political roles.  In the Algerian  war of independence for instance, people in veil were conveyor belts of weapons past French security check points as the colonialists were afraid to search such persons. Soon, they banned the veil. Respected Islamic scholar, the late Hussein Fadlallah of Lebanon saw it as a clothing that does not allow men to see the woman as a sex object.

But not many agree with Fadlallah. The  most surprising to me is Syria which has banned its teachers and students from wearing  the  niqab veil  that reveals  only a woman’s eyes. Hundreds of teachers in primary schools wearing the veil have been transferred to administrative  jobs while public and private universities have been instructed not to register veil-wearing women.

It appears that Syria is trying to assert the secularity of the state, but there is a political undertone; conservative Islamism which is gaining ground amongst the poor sections of the populace may be a danger to the Syrian rulers.

The veil is the symbol of this growing conservatism or in some cases, of defiance.
But the unkindest cut is by the French whose lower house in the National Assembly  voted 335 to 1 with the Socialist party  walking out. But the walk out is not in protest against the decision, but the area of coverage. The socialists  want the ban  only in places such as public transport, hospitals and public buildings.

The bill goes to the French Senate next month where it is  likely to pass an overwhelming endorsement.  I say it is an unkind cut because in colonial times, France pursued  a policy of assimilation and had given its former colonial  subjects, their descendants and immigrants the impression that they are fully part of France. This may be one reason why with five million Muslims out of its total 64 million citizens, it has the highest number of Muslims in Europe.

Those who may be affected most are people of Algerian  descent  whose forebears had fought  on the French side during the Algerian liberation war against French colonialism. When the French under Charles de Gaul were forced to give up Algeria, many of these French loyalists fled to their adopted mother country fearing for their lives in an homestead they had betrayed.

It will be surprising, if not annoying to many of them that after over  half a century of assimilation, the French will claim that it wants to define what is French, hence the need to ban the veil.

Clearly, France is uncomfortable with the brand of Islam whose adherents had bombed civilian targets in various parts of the universe and subsequently changed the direction of world history. There was also the shock France suffered in 2005 when youths from  minority sections of the populace  engaged in bloody riots.

Clearly the move against the veil has little to do with asserting French culture; it is mainly a political one championed by the conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy with eyes on the next elections.  The French  argue that the ban has nothing to do with cultural, minority  and religious rights. As part of the attempt to live this lie, the   new law is called  the “bill to forbid concealing one’s face in public”.

They claim that  the bill affects everybody  irrespective of religion and is therefore not discriminatory. But is motorcycle helmets which also covers faces not affected? The French makes  exceptions of the helmet, health, skiing and festival masks.

Interestingly, some French believe that the ban is a move to liberate women of the Islamic faith. A legislator, Berengere Polletti, for instance, argued that women in veil are  in “prison” and that  the veil is “the sign of their submission  to their husbands, brothers or fathers”.

This faulty  thinking is reflected in the penalties. Fathers, brothers and husbands or anyone  convicted of forcing someone else to wear the veil  risks a one year prison term  and $38,000 fine. If the ‘victim’ is a minor, this penalty is doubled.  In the case of women found guilty of willingly wearing the veil, the penalty is $185. In 2004 France had banned  Muslim headscarves and other religious symbols in its public primary and post-primary schools.

The French bill is quite liberal compared to the rule in Turkey, an almost wholly Muslim state; here, even the wearing of  Muslim headscarves are completely banned. Additionally, political parties aligned to religion or even suspected to be so are banned. The military in Turkey assumes the right to overthrow any government that is seen as promoting Islam or any religion. Jordan bans the veil under the guise that armed robbers use them as masks.

Despite the various reasons adduced, the move against the veil is essentially political; a move by the majority against the minority, the ruling class against the ruled, the rich against the poor or some sense of cultural superiority, especially by the Europeans. To many of the anti-veil people, the wearing is a symbol of growing Islamic extremism.

In most of these countries, the veil is unlikely  to go down without a fight. For instance, constitution courts might still strike the ban down on the basis that it conflicts with  fundamental human rights. It is also not unlikely that the case may be taken to the European human rights court which may find it discriminatory. Whatever the outcome of such battles, it is clear that the concept of global citizenship is under attack; the stringing of the veil heralds the commencement of this attack.

The Arno River runs through the center of Florence.

Florence is the capital of the region of Tuscany, on Italy”s north-west coast. The cultural and historical impact of Florence is overwhelming. However, the city is one of Italy”s most atmospheric and pleasant, retaining a strong resemblance to the small late-medieval center that contributed so much to the cultural and political development of Europe.

　　Where Rome is a historical hot-pot , Florence is like stepping back into a Fiat and Vespa-filled Renaissance : the shop-lined Ponte Vecchio, the trademark Duomo, the gem-filled Uffizi Gallery, the turreted Piazza della Signoria and the Medici Chapels.

　　The remarkable Duomo , with its pink, white and green marble fa? ade and characteristic dome , dominates the city”s skyline. The building took almost two centuries to build (and even then the facade wasn”t completed until the 19th century), and is the fourth-largest cathedral in the world. The enormous dome was designed by Brunelleschi, and its interior features frescoes and stained-glass windows by some of the Renaissance-era”s best: Vasari, Zuccari, Donatello, Uccello and Ghiberti. Take a deep breath and climb up to take a closer look, and you”ll be rewarded by fantastic views of the city and an insight into how the dome was so cleverly constructed – without scaffolding. The dome still defines the scale of the city, and no building in town is taller.

　　Florence was founded as a colony of the Etruscan city of Fiesole in about 200 BC, later becoming the Roman Florentia, a garrison town controlling the Via Flaminia. In the 13th century the pro-papal Guelphs and pro-imperial Ghibellines started a century-long bout of bickering , which wound up with the Guelphs forming their own government in the 1250s. By 1292 Florence eventually becoming a commercial republic controlled by the Guelph-heavy merchant class.In the latter part of the 14th century the Medicis began consolidating power, eventually becoming bankers to the papacy . Florence became capital of the Kingdom, and remained so until Rome took over in 1875.

Florence used to be badly damged by war (WWII ) and floods (in 1966), fortunately the salvage operation  led to the widespread  use of modern restoration techniques（修复技术）which have saved artworks throughout the country.　

There exists a lot of amazing things in the world.There ’s a woman fed up with scaffolding in crencester.

A DISABLED woman in Cirencester has hit out at scaffolding in the town centre which she says makes it impossible for her to use the pavement in her wheelchair.

Christine Brett, of Somerford Road, is fed-up with the scaffolding outside the Kings Head Hotel, in Market Place, which has nearly made her fall out of her wheelchair.

She said it is too difficult to get past the scaffolding, which has narrowed the width of the pavement, and has had to ask passers-by for help.

“I was trying to go past one day and nearly toppled over onto the road because the space you are left with is ridiclous,” she said.

“I often had to ask people for help or to move out of my way as there is just no room. I just cross over to the other side of the street now as it is unsafe for me.

“I understand that the scaffolding has to be up while work is undertaken but it annoys me how long it has been there – what’s going on?”

Cirencester’s Access Group secretary Mary Grace said she had heard from many disabled people in the town who have similar concerns.

“People are absolutely fed-up with the scaffolding,” she said. “People have to go into the road to get past – it’s dangerous, difficult and very annoying.”

Cirencester Chamber of Commerce spokesman Jonathon Davies said it would be “very desirable” to have the scaffolding taken down as soon as possible.

“It’s not very attractive but we have heard that there is work underway,” he said. “If work is not happening it would be great to have it down.”

The site is being developed by Wildmoor Properties but no one from the company was able to comment on the situation.

Cirencester mayor and district councillor Geoffrey Adams said that residents needed to be patient.”I know it does narrow the pavement width and, yes it does seem to have been there a long time but, at the end of the day it has to be there while the renovation goes on behind it,” he said.”To be positive, the newly refurbished hotel is going to be a landmark in what is increasingly going to become a very handsome Market Place.”

There are at least eight characteristics of scaffolding:

1) Scaffolding provides clear directions
Web based research units offer step-by-step directions to explain just what students must do in order to meet the expectations for the learning activity. Instructional designers try to anticipate any problems or uncertainties, writing user-friendly directions in ways that minimize confusion, place a premium on clarity and speed students toward productive learning.

The operating concept here is the “teflon lesson,” a learning experience that has been well tested in advance so that anything that might go wrong is considered in advance and eliminated if possible.

We don’t want our students wandering about like prospectors on the desert.

2) Scaffolding clarifies purpose
“Why are we doing this?”

Scaffolding keeps purpose and motivation in the forefront. Rather than offering up one more empty school ritual like the state report, the scaffolded lesson aspires to meaning and worth. Built around essential questions, the scaffolding helps to keep the “big picture” central and in focus.

“We are looking at this question because it is central to being human.”

No “trivial pursuit” here.

Students are let in on the secret early. They are told why the problem, issue or decision is important and they are urged to care about it. They do not lapse into simple collecting or gathering. They are not caught up in mindless activity traps. Their work remains purposeful and planful. Each time they act, it is in service to the thought process, the discovery of meaning and the development of insight.

Traditional school research placed too much emphasis upon collection, while scaffolding requires continuous sorting and sifting as part of a “puzzling” process – the combining of new information with previous understandings to construct new ones. Students are adding on, extending, refining and elaborating. It is almost as if they are building a bridge from their preconceptions to a deeper, wiser, more astute view of whatever truth matters for the question or issue at hand.

3) Scaffolding keeps students on task
By providing a pathway or route for the learner, the scaffolded lesson is somewhat like the guard rail of a mountain highway. The learner can exercise great personal discretion within parameters but is not in danger of “off road” stranding. Each time a student or team of students is asked to move along a path, the steps are outlined extensively. No need to wander, stray or stumble. Students may “take the curves” without fear of going over the edge.

This is more than a matter of clear directions that could just as easily be printed out on paper. The Web based lesson provides structure and guidance coincident with each step of the journey. The progression of activities is liberating yet controlling at the same time. The student moves through something like a garden, taking each Web page like flag stones. There may be more than one path wandering through the garden, but none of them leads into the jungle or a swamp or a tiger pit.

4) Scaffolding offers assessment to clarify expectations
From the very start, scaffolded lessons provide examples of quality work done by others. Right from the beginning, students are shown rubrics and standards that define excellence. In traditional school research, students were often kept in the dark until the product was completed. Without clearly stated criteria, it was difficult to know what constituted quality work.

Is it a matter of length? the number of sources cited?

Does originality count?

Does the logic and coherence of my argument matter?

What constitutes adequate evidence?

There are a dozen issues, all of which deserve attention and elaboration. As an example, consider the online rubrics for successful multimedia reports available at http://www2.ncsu.edu/ncsu/cep/midlink/rub.multi.htm

5) Scaffolding points students to worthy sources
Most educators complain that the Internet suffers from a low “signal to noise ratio” – the confusing, weak and unreliable information (noise) outweighs and threatens to drown out the information most worthy of consideration. Wary of wasting time, teachers have little tolerance for “data smog” and “Infoglut.” They want to see students putting their energy into interpretation rather than wandering.

Scaffolding identifies the best sources so that students speed to signal rather than noise. Looking for the best Web sites on Columbus, Drake or Magellan to decide which would have been a better leader, the scaffolded lesson created by fifth grade teacher, Gretchen Offutt, identified 4-5 sites for each captain.

Explorer Homeport
Knowing that the Web is filled with sites not worth visiting because of quality, bias or reading level concerns, the teacher visits 100+ sites per captain before winnowing the list down to 4 or 5 per captain.

Does this mean the student has no options? It depends upon the teacher. And it depends upon the school. In some cases, students must stick to the sources pre-selected by the teacher. In other cases, the student may use these sites as a starting point, extending further out into Cyberspace in search of something unusual. The scaffolding serves as an introduction, not as a corral.

6) Scaffolding reduces uncertainty, surprise and disappointment
The operating design concept for scaffolded lessons is the “teflon lesson” – no stick, no burn and no trouble. Lesson designers are expected to test each and every step in the lesson to see what might possibly go wrong. The idea is to eliminate distracting frustrations to the extent this is possible. The goal is to maximize learning and efficiency. Once the lesson is ready for trial with students, the lesson is refined at least one more time based on the new insights gained by watching students actually try the activities.

7) Scaffolding delivers efficiency
If done well, a scaffolded lesson should nearly scream with efficiency. Teachers and students should shake their heads in disbelief.

“It felt like we completed ten hours of work in just two!”

“How did we get so much done?”

This perception is achieved, in part, by virtue of comparison with the old kind of school research that was mostly about wandering and scooping. Boredom fed by irrelevance slowed the passage of time. It took forever to get the job done.

Scaffolded lessons still require hard work, but the work is so well centered on the inquiry that it seems like a potter and wheel. Little waste or wobbling. Scaffolding “distills” the work effort. Focus. Clarity. Time on task. The student is channelled. No mud flats, shoals or other navigational hazards.

Scaffolding creates momentum
In contrast to traditional research experiences, throughout which much of the energy was dispersed and dissipated during the wandering phases, the channelling achieved through scaffolding concentrates and directs energy in ways that actually build into momentum. It is almost like an avalanche of thoughts, accumulating insight and understanding.

In resolving the dissonance described in Chapter 4, “Students in Resonance,” the work gathers speed. The drive toward meaning is accelerated. The essential question and its subsidiary questions create suction, drive, urgency and motivation. The search for understanding inspires and provokes. One loses sleep. One awakens in the middle of the night, wondering, pondering, considering

An electrical retailer has been fined for exposing staff to asbestos fibres, public liability insurance holders have been told.

The Daily Gazette reported that Stellison admitted breaching the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 by failing to protect the health, safety and welfare of employees.

It was fined £13,000 with additional costs.

Colchester Magistrates Court heard how the charges were brought against the firm by Colchester Council after an inspector found that staff had been exposed to the fibres in a storeroom.

Stellison was served with a prohibition notice to prevent access to the area until it was improved.

Furthermore, the council said that the firm failed to ensure damaged asbestos materials were removed until March 2007, despite having a survey two years earlier, while a contractor appointed to remove the cancer-related material was found to be not registered with the Asbestos Licensing Unit.

In other asbestos-related news, Glan Clwyd Hospital, near Rhyl, could be refurbished instead of demolished as it is riddled with asbestos and does not meet fire safety standards, according to the BBC.

 There are many different types of scaffolding which have been developed for different uses and situations, builders liability insurance holders have been reminded.

A spokesperson for ScaffoldingQuotes.co.uk, said that although the same basic principles apply, the piping used in the construction of a tower block should be stronger and more complex than scaffolding which is used when building a two-storey home.

“Where scaffolding is needed, either for asbestos removal or for other work in a building where asbestos is present, it is important that proper safety precautions are taken to protect everyone in the work area,” the representative added.

It also commented that if it is a person’s responsibility to arrange scaffolding in this situation, then they should only consider engaging scaffolders who are licensed by the Health and Safety Executive to work with asbestos.

Earlier this month, William Bedford, trading as B & J Scaffolding was prosecuted after a scaffold erection collapsed into a public street.