In construction sites, many tasks require working on a scaffolding installed in mid-air. This means that field workers are always at risk of falling. In fact, statistics show that 60% of fatal accidents at construction sites last year were caused by falling.

Experts focused on the “scaffolding system” as a way to reduce falls on construction sites. They explained that with the scaffolding system properly installed, the frequency of fatal accidents can be reduced greatly. The Korean government is also striving to spread this scaffolding system with the “Clean Workplace Support Project,” which supports the costs of scaffolding system installation in SME construction companies.

So what makes the scaffolding system so important? On hearing that Eucho Industrial, which manufactures and leases scaffolding systems, has become an INNOVILT Alliance with POSCO, POSCO Newsroom decided to pay the company a visit. Let’s dive into the details about the scaffolding system!

l Scaffolding System: In Charge of the Safety On Construction Sites

Eucho Industrial’s material center is located two and a half hours drive away from Seoul. In the spacious yard, long round steel pillars were neatly stacked. As we were looking around the company, Eucho Industrial’s CEO Byeong-Gi Jeong came to greet us. “Welcome to Eucho Industrial. You’re looking at the scaffolding system manufactured at the plant just now. Are you curious about where and how these pillars are used? Let me share the details inside.”

The “INNOVILT Alliance” mark was the first thing that caught the eye, on visiting CEO Jeong’s office. Here we could meet Eucho Industrial’s Meong-Gon Kim and Young-Soon Chang, and also POSCO’s Min-Seok Lee who would be explaining to us about the scaffolding system.

First, we heard what a scaffolding is. Scaffolding is a temporary structure that makes work in high areas possible. It is a kind of a walk plate that enables workers to transport and move materials.

Such scaffolding is largely divided into steel pipe scaffolding and scaffolding systems. Steel pipe scaffolding is made by assembling steel pipes in a checkerboard shape and tightening them with bolts and nuts. Safety can be secured to a certain extent by using standardized materials and installing them tightly. However, in some small construction sites, the scaffolding is installed only in some places, or there are cases where the clamp is not properly tightened. These are considered as the major causes of fall accidents. The scaffolding system compensates for these shortcomings of steel pipe scaffolding. The walk plates, passage, and safety railing are fabricated beforehand at factories and installed in a batch. Unlike steel pipe scaffolding, which can be installed arbitrarily, the scaffolding system is much safer in that it is modularized by calculating its structure.

l Eucho Industrial: The First Company to Introduce the Scaffolding System in Korea

Eucho Industrial specializes in making and leasing temporary materials such as the scaffolding system. In 1995, the company started the first temporary material rental business in Korea, and in the same year introduced the scaffolding system for the first time in Korea, thus opening the era of the scaffolding system at construction sites. In 2009, Eucho Industrial also started to develop its own products.

▲ Eucho Industrial’s CEO Beong-Gi Jeong

“The conventional scaffolding system applied in the past was manufactured with overseas (France, Japan) technology, so it often didn’t fit the conditions of Korea. For example, as the height of workers of each country was different, Japanese products were too low for domestic workers while the case was the opposite in European products. Also, the price was too costly, making it difficult to apply to all sites.” This was why Eucho Industrial stepped up to develop a scaffolding system that was suitable for domestic construction sites.

l Ultralight High Strength Steel Pipe Made with POSCO Steel

Securing lightness in weight was what Eucho Industrial paid attention to when developing the scaffolding system. Because, in the case of conventional scaffolding, the heavyweight posed a burden on the workers at the sites. So, the new scaffolding system required steel pipes that are light and able to withstand the weight of the workers. And that was when Eucho Industrial encountered UL700 (Ultra Light 700), a steel pipe product made of POSCO’s high strength steel PosH690 (POSCO High strength 690). The ultra-light steel pipe was 25% lighter in weight and 40% higher in tensile strength than existing products — the perfect material that Eucho Industrial was seeking.

Eucho Industrial’s Myeong-Gon Kim said, “The more we reviewed the performance of UL700, the more we became certain that it was most appropriate for our new product. On the one hand, of course, there were skeptical views. It was because the product was new to be adopted, so there were issues regarding its supply and demand and machinability. However, we put our faith in it since it was made of POSCO steel.” POSCO’s Min-Seok Lee responded, “We also had confidence in the technology that the Eucho Industrial has had in the field of construction safety. We believed that we could create great synergy with Eucho Industrial which recognized the importance of construction safety earlier and pioneered the temporary material sector.”

In 2010, the cooperation between the two companies finally yielded prominent results. A full-scale mass production system was established for ES700 (Eucho System 700), the ultralight and high-strength scaffolding system adopting UL700. It was the result of endless doubts and concerns about product performance and repeated experiments and tests to solve them. “The product was sent to a related institute to check how strong it is, and the product passed the test. However, due to the nature of rental products, there were opinions that the quality couldn’t be verified by testing only new products. So we threw the product on the roof of the factory over and over again to damage it. I remember that everyone was pleased with the result that the quality was the same as the new product even after use.”

▲ Eucho Industrial’s CEO Byeong-Gi Jeong and POSCO’s Min-Seok Lee looking at ES700, the ultralight high-strength scaffolding system

Eucho Industrial’s Young-Soon Chang also thanked POSCO, who worked with Eucho Industrial the entire process, from material selection to mass production. “There were times when I wondered whether our product was truly competitive. However, since we are an SME, we lacked the infrastructure to conduct test performance. At that time, POSCO suggested experimenting to see if Eucho Industrial products were indeed strong. As a result, we carried out structural performance tests on ES700 and products of other companies at POSCO R&D Center in Songdo. All three tests showed that our products possessed better strength. It was a reassuring moment to have a partner with whom we could share and solve problems together.”

l ES700: Equipped with All Functions Required On Sites

Eucho Industrial explained that the ES700 Ultralight Scaffolding System has three main advantages. First of all, the biggest advantage is its lightweight. The thickness of the ES700 is 1.92mm for the vertical material and 1.8mm for the horizontal material. Both the vertical and horizontal materials have become 15% thinner than conventional steel pipe scaffolding, which is 2.3mm thick. The weight was also reduced by 25%, compared to the existing product, which demonstrates that the weight of 4 to 5 materials of other companies equals the weight of 6 to 8 ES700s. It also reduces transportation costs as it becomes lighter, enabling the transportation of more quantities at once. Eucho Industrial CEO Jeong went on to explain, “This isn’t all. Because it is easy to transport and handle, the constriction time is also shortened, and construction efficiency is increased. It is also effective in preventing musculoskeletal diseases of workers on the site who are carrying the materials.”

But doesn’t reducing the thickness weaken the product’s strength to withstand the load? Wouldn’t the safety also be reduced along with its weight? POSCO Min-Seok Lee stepped in to explain the strength of ES700.

“ES700 is made of CGH690 and PosH690, a POSCO World Premium Product (WTP) high-strength steel with a tensile strength of 690MPa and higher. Most of the products of other companies have a tensile strength of 400MPa. I think I need not explain which one is safer. Since it is made of high-strength steel, the damage rate is much lower than that of conventional products.”

“The elongation, which is the rate at which the steel does not break and stretches, is also excellent.” Myeong-Gon Kim added an explanation, “If a steel product is just strong without being able to be stretched, it will break easily even with a small impact. On the other hand, steel products with strong flexibility — high percent elongation — are excellent in shock absorption, so they are quick to recover even when hit hard. Increasing both strength and elongation is difficult to implement in steel products. But POSCO technology made it happen.”

The second advantage is compatibility. ES700 can be applied to any existing scaffolding. This is differentiated from existing products that must be purchased as a full set. Myeong-Gon Kim added, “The walk plates for the scaffolding system is more expensive than conventional scaffolding. With the ES700, it can be used together with any other walk plates, thus reducing the cost of purchasing and managing scaffoldings. It’s much economical.”

The last advantage is simplicity. Thanks to the simple shape of the product, it can be installed quickly and easily. Unlike conventional steel pipe scaffolding, which requires scaffolding installation experts, with ES700, you have to simply insert the wedge pin of the horizontal material into the bracket of the vertical material, and it’s all done! Once the horizontal level is well aligned, anyone — even a worker with no experience — can install it easily and safely. Does the easy installation make it less safe? The answer is no. The structural safety of the product is also excellent due to the high friction area between the vertical and horizontal materials. It is also easy to disassemble as it doesn’t require any separate process to remove the pins. The overall cost is also estimated to be reduced with the cost saved in material construction and labor.

Ik-Won Choi, CEO of construction company GMT, said, “Experts specializing in installation and construction acknowledge how good ES700 is. It is light enough that a single person can carry up to 10 products, and the labor cost for installation and disassembly is more than 15% efficient than other products. When organizing and logistics costs are added, the difference is up to 20%. The workers also prefer construction sites where Eucho Industrial products are applied. Since it is such a competitive product, we have no choice but to increase the stock of ES700 products.”

l ES700: How Are They Made?

“Now you know what the ES700 is. But aren’t you curious about how it is made?” said CEO Jeong after his explanation. We quickly put on our safety caps and headed to the factory.

First, POSCO high-strength steel (PosH690, CGH690) is shaped into 48.6mm-wide (for vertical materials) and 42.7mm-wide (for horizontal materials) steel pipes (UL700) and delivered to Eucho Industrial. The pipes then undergo five stages to become the ES700. The first is the cutting process, where the steel pipes are cut according to the five different modular lengths of horizontal and vertical materials. Holes are drilled for connecting pins in the steel pipes for vertical materials, and a “C”-shaped groove is made in the steel pipes for horizontal materials. This process is called the punching and notching process.

▲ Steel pipes that have undergone the punching process (left) and the notching process (right)

Once the vertical and horizontal materials have completed the punching and notching process, brackets and wedge pins are welded to the steel pipes. The vertical materials are then shipped to the plating plant where they go under a separate hot-dip galvanizing process to increase corrosion resistance as they have to withstand the load directly. The horizontal materials also undergo a rust prevention process through zinc treatment on the welding parts. Finally, impurities are removed from the surfaces of both materials, and the ES700 Ultralight Scaffolding System is complete.

l ES700: Acknowledged by Workers on Sites

Eucho Industrial’s Young-soon Chang said with confidence, “The response in the field is great. They say that it is light and easy to install, so it speeds up the work. Recently, reorder requests are coming in from sites where the products have already been used. Isn’t that proof that our products satisfy them?”

However, ES700 was not well received in the beginning. It was because the price is 20 to 30% higher than other products. Since temporary materials are perceived to be materials that are used for a short time anyway, many try to reduce costs by utilizing cheap materials imported from overseas. However, since ES700 is made with POSCO premium steel, its price wasn’t competitive. So what was the strategy of both companies to overcome this issue?

POSCO’s Min-Seok Lee replied, “We appealed to the price competitiveness of the ES700 in terms of overall cost, not just the initial purchasing cost. ES700 is lightweight and easy to install and disassemble, reducing transportation, storage, and labor costs. The initial purchasing cost may seem pricey, but in terms of overall cost, the products are much cheaper than conventional products.”

CEO Jeong also added, “If you make the product with imported materials, you can, of course, sell it at a lot cheaper price. However, there is an incomparable difference between the quality of POSCO steel and cheap imported steel. When the material is folded, cheap imported materials show multiple cracks. This is a problem that does not occur at all in POSCO Steel. From the user’s point of view, products made with imported steel may seem good at first because of the cheap price, but they cause additional costs since they have to be repaired for damages later on. Since ES700 is made of high-strength steel, it is more durable than conventional products and has a longer life. In the long run, the durable ES700 is much more economical.”

Eucho Industrial has never thought of utilizing steel from overseas, whose safety is uncertified. With this belief, ES700 has been recognized for its excellence and was applied to major construction projects, such as the PyeongChang Winter Olympics, Samsung Electronics R5 in Suwon, and POSCO Incubating Center. It has gradually expanded its market share, and currently, it is also being used at the construction site of Section 10 of the Hamyang-Changnyeong Expressway.

The ES700 Ultralight Scaffolding System listed its name as an INNOVILT product last year. Eucho Industrial’s Young-Soon Chang said, “Since the product is certified as premium steel for construction material by POSCO, we are filled with confidence and pride when meeting clients. I believe that the influence INNOVILT Alliance creates will be strong.”

The two companies are also preparing to leap further with the INNOVILT certification. They are planning to expand the use of ES700 by improving its value chain and accelerate market share. There are already responses from the sites saying that they will only use ES700 in the future. With this momentum, POSCO and Eucho Industrial will also work together to foster installation companies specializing in INNOVILT products”.

At the end of the interview, CEO Jeong said, “Innovation is only possible with differentiated technology and know-how, and with persistence and passion to keep going. We are pleased to have POSCO as such a reliable partner. We will continue to pioneer the development of products that can lead the construction market with outstanding materials.”

The INNOVILT product to be introduced today is “UL700 Steel-Aluminum Hybrid Jack Support”. POSCO Newsroom presents to you the story of a POSCO researcher who developed the product together with POSCO’s client, Daehan Scaffolding.

l Temporary Materials? Safety Materials!

I am Tae-Hyu Ha, a senior researcher at POSCO Steel Structure Research Group. I am working on developing construction materials using POSCO steel, and today I am going to tell you the development story of “temporary materials“.

Let’s picture the construction of a building. Laying down the base work, building a framework, installing floors and ceilings, applying interior and exterior materials, and decorating the interior — these might probably be the construction processes that come to mind. However, there is one crucial process missing here. It is none other than “temporary work”.

Temporary work is the phase where temporary and basic structures necessary for construction are installed. It includes bringing in electricity for the construction tools, installing water facilities for drinking and sanitizing, and establishing safety facilities to prevent accidents. And “temporary materials” are essential in this temporary work. Temporary materials include walk plates and passages installed to enable work at high areas, supports that temporarily hold the building framework, and a double-deck that allows vehicles and pedestrians to walk above the construction section. Put differently, proceeding with construction is impossible without temporary materials.

Temporary materials are especially important in that they directly affect the quality of construction and the safety of workers on site. However, in most cases, they aren’t paid much attention because they are demolished once the construction is complete. Since temporary materials are perceived to be materials that are used for a short time anyway, many try to shorten the construction period by setting them up quickly and reduce costs by utilizing cheap materials imported from overseas.

▲ High-strength system scaffolding installed on sites

In this situation, POSCO set to pioneer the temporary material market using premium steel materials with its clients from 2009 as a measure to secure the safety of construction sites. The goal was to bring about a change in perception that temporary materials are not just temporary but are safety-related materials that are directly connected to the safety of workers. As a result, POSCO developed the premium steel tube “UL700 (Ultra Light 700)” for “scaffolding”. POSCO’s high-strength steel PosH690 was applied as the material for UL700.

What is scaffolding? Well, when passing a remodeling site or a construction site, you might have seen a structure where narrow steel pipes are woven together vertically and horizontally as if they were wrapping the building. This is called scaffolding, and it is a kind of a walk plate that enables workers to safely climb up and down in the construction of high-rise buildings. Scaffolding made with UL700 adopts POSCO premium steel and has a tensile strength of 700 MPa, replacing conventional scaffolding that mainly uses general steel pipe of 400 MPa tensile strength.

In the beginning, expanding high-strength premium products in the price-oriented steel pipe market was not easy. However, after receiving positive feedback from construction sites and being recognized for its economic feasibility and safety, demands for the products began to expand gradually.

l Making the Temporary Column “Jack Support” as Premium

As recognition for UL700 with its safety and high strength performance grew, product inquiries rushed in not only about scaffolding but about various other temporary materials. Then one day in February 2016, Min-Young Jeong, CEO of Daehan Scaffolding, visited the POSCO R&D Center in Songdo and shared his story with us.

“We are a company that manufactures and supplies a product called Jack Support. Jack Support is used to distribute the load of the upper part of a building. When concrete is poured on the floor, its strength increases as the concrete hardens, but it usually takes more than a week for the concrete strength to become sufficient. So, to proceed with construction on the upper floor, temporary support must be installed under the floor plate while the concrete is hardening and the temporary support used here is Jack Support.”

▲ Jack Support applied on construction sites

He went on, “However, we have a problem. For places with high ceilings, such as the lobby and public space on the first floor, a Jack Support of at least 5m is required, but the problem is that as the product length increases, the weight increases as well. Manufacturing and supplying aren’t a problem but installing a product weighing over 100kg is a definite issue. Imagine that workers have to lift, move, and install a material that weighs over 100kg. So, that’s why we need to develop a Jack Support that is light yet long enough. I heard that there is a steel pipe for scaffolding called UL700, and I wondered what if we apply such high-strength steel to Jack Support as well.”

Jeong’s suggestion was plausible, but I was not too sure. I could not help but think, “Oh, length issues. Again”. It was because I knew from my experience that when high-strength steel is applied to a long material, the performance does not come out properly due to “buckling”. Buckling is a phenomenon where a material, which has a long length compared to its cross-section, suddenly bends when the load is applied above the limit it can hold up. In the case of short types, high-strength steel can withstand much heavier loads without bending, but with the length increasing, even high-strength steel bends under similar loads as ordinary steels due to this buckling effect.

I said, “CEO Jeong, Since buckling occurs in long materials, it is highly likely that the results might be indifferent even in the case of high-strength steel. So, let’s design products by length using high-strength steel first, and then conduct performance tests with the prototypes. Detailed directions can be discussed later.”

First, as CEO Jeong suggested, I set on designing a standard-type Jack Support (with a height of 3 to 4m) and a high ceiling-type Jack Support (6 to 10m). The idea was to make four prototypes, two for each type — one with normal steel SS40 and the other with high-strength steel PosH690 — and check the maximum load each product can support. The design details were sent to Daehan Scaffolding and they were produced accordingly. Two months later, we met again at the Songdo R&D Center to evaluate the performance. After inspecting the completed prototype, we carefully started the testing. The results turned out as expected. The standard-type Jack Support adopting high-strength steel exhibited similar performance to conventional products while reducing the overall weight. However, in the case of the high ceiling-type Jack Support, both the high-strength prototype and the normal prototype didn’t meet the required performance, which is a maximum load of 30 tons.

Things didn’t work out as CEO Jeong had expected, and it was a little disappointing for us as well. We couldn’t attain the desired results, but we couldn’t stop there. We carefully made a new proposal.

“Developing a high ceiling-type Jack Support is difficult right now. How about applying high-strength steel to the standard-type Jack Support instead? As you could see in the testing, if high-strength steel is applied on the standard-type Jack Support, the product weight can be drastically reduced. It could enhance the price competitiveness of the product as well.” CEO Jeong considered our offer for a while and replied, “The product is widely applied, and the market is much larger, so it would be worth a shot. Let’s do it!” After that, we set on several detailed design and performance tests, and we finally launched a high-strength Jack Support with a maximum length of 3.8m.

It wasn’t a product of the initial plan, but the response from the market was hot! The secret was its lightweight, which is about half the weight of conventional products. It was an opportunity to capture the need for lightweight Jack Supports in the market. In construction sites, time and labor force are important, so the demand for high-strength lightweight products gradually increased, and the client company producing and supplying these products became busier than ever.

l Steel & Aluminum Together! The Advent of a Hybrid Jack Support

In November 2018, almost three years later, Daehan Scaffolding CEO Min-Young Jeong contacted us for another visit to the research center. Since the commercialization of the high-strength Jack Support, we hadn’t received any direct communication, so CEO Jeong’s contact was quite a surprise. Was there any problem? The story of CEO Jeong was as follows.

“Currently, our product is the lightest among domestic steel Jack Support products. The market has also expanded. But recently, more and more companies are making Jack Supports with aluminum. Aluminum is supposed to be expensive, but the price of these products aren’t very different from our products as well. So, I would like to take a chance to upgrade our products once again.”

There were two things that Daehan Scaffolding desired. The first was expanding the maximum length of use from 3.8m to 5m. CEO Jeong explained that the length of the product had to be increased than the present to respond to various demands on the field. The second was extending the range of length adjustment. The adjustment range of current products is only 30cm, and so to meet the length requirements of each construction site, the products have to be manufactured accordingly, resulting in over 10 different types of products, which is too many. CEO Jeong wanted to extend the adjustment range to 70cm with a single product that could be applied to more sites.

Listening to him, I realized that it was similar to what we had worked on three years ago. As I was going to say, “Let’s try a new method since it’s difficult to do that with high-strength steel.” CEO Jeong proposed an idea, “We designed a product where the length can be adjusted by inserting an aluminum inner tube into a UL700 steel pipe.”

Combining aluminum and steel? At first, it sounded like a non-realistic plan. I thought, ‘This product can be made with steel alone. Why should we apply aluminum here?’ But my thoughts soon changed as I saw the prototype sample. Since the aluminum inner tube allows precise machinability, it became easy to secure the straightness of the product, and the strength of the product was also steady thanks to the application of high-strength steel. Making the outer tube, which must withstand the load, with high-strength steel, while making the inner tube for length adjustment with aluminum to reduce the overall weight — it seemed like a workable idea.

We decided to come up with an optimal design based on the client’s prototype. First, we worked on finding the coefficient for the complex aluminum section design. Next, we calculated the buckling load of the steel pipe by length and improved the thickness of the steel pipe and the shape of the aluminum section accordingly.

Four types of test specimens were produced by different lengths, and load testing was conducted for each. The commercial product lineup was also complete taking into account the test results and the most required height at construction sites. Considering the buckling strength and field workability of the inner tube, the length of the aluminum inner tube was set to 1m, and it was produced in four different sizes. After a year of research and testing, we finally launched a high-strength hybrid Jack Support with aluminum inner tube in July 2019. It was such an achievement in 4 years since the first meeting with Daehan Scaffolding in 2016.

l Safety for Workers, Economics for Contractors

The collaboration of steel and aluminum — the two different competing materials — was embodied into this Hybrid Jack Support. And within a year of its introduction to the market, it has been applied to more than 30 apartment construction sites of leading domestic construction companies, such as Hyundai E&C, Daewoo E&C, and POSCO E&C.

▲ The UL700-Al Hybrid Jack Support applied on site

CEO Jeong said, “The product is really good because it’s light — this is what I hear a lot when supplying the products.” We started with the application of high-strength steel to temporary construction materials, which led to the development of ultra-lightweight, high-strength Jack Supports, and, finally, here we were with Hybrid Jack Supports.

Compared to the conventional 5-inch product, the Hybrid Jack Support has the same strength but is 50% lighter. It also weighs about 80% of an aluminum product. Since UL700 is high strength steel, it is possible to reduce the outer cross-sectional area to one-third of that of aluminum, which results in remarkable weight reduction. Supposing that the conventional Jack Support is 60kg, an aluminum product is 35kg and the Hybrid product is merely 29kg. Other than the fact that it can be handled more safely by the workers, what meanings do this ‘lightweight’ feature have on sites?

The most crucial fact is that it can be installed quickly due to its weight reduction. 29kg is a weight that a single worker can easily handle. Also, unlike conventional products, the length can be adjusted up to 70cm without bolts, so it allows quick and convenient work.See how a worker installs a Hybrid Jack Support on site in just 35 seconds!

The simple and quick installation enables a reduction in labor costs and shortens the construction period. In fact, there was a case where labor costs were reduced by more than 30% as the time required to install and disassemble products was shortened. Also, since a more number of products can be loaded on the trucks to carry them, transportation costs are reduced by about 30%.

However, there may be doubts like, “Wouldn’t there be a problem with durability if it becomes so light?” There might be concerns about the inner tube made of aluminum being damaged on sites. But the product we aimed to manufacture was a ‘light yet strong temporary material’ — not just a light one. Unlike conventional products, the Hybrid Jack Support is designed to be separated by parts, so there is less risk of damage, and even if it is damaged, the damaged part can easily be replaced, so the maintenance cost is also low. The exterior of the Hybrid Jack Support is made of POSCO UL700, which makes it much more durable.

Four years have passed since developing Jack Supports using high-strength steel and improving them to meet the needs of the market. The market looks stagnant, but its trend is changing fast. That’s why we can’t just sit still in the lab and make an experiment to develop products.

In that sense, the Hybrid Jack Support is the result of POSCO and its client going back and forth between the lab and the field, constantly thinking about ideas to overcome the weaknesses of the product. In the second quarter of this year, it was listed as one of the INNOVILT certified products as well.

The temporary materials market is a place with unclear quality standards and a high temptation of low-cost goods. However, it is our mission to change this perception and eliminate the blind spots for the safety of workers with our products and technologies. At the same time, we should create solutions that can bring substantial benefits to the constructors as well. This is the reason why, even today, INNOVILT Lab is busy developing new solutions.

Early scaffolding usually consisted of wood and rope – even today in parts of the world, bamboo is still used, even for high rises. But a much more common material for making stronger and safer scaffolding is steel.

Steel Transforms an Old Idea

At first, steel was used as coupling devices, replacing the rope used for joining together the wooden poles. One of the first uses of steel couplings? A renovation of Buckingham Palace in 1913. Then steel pipes arose, taking the place of wood poles in the 1920s.

Today, steel is the most common material for scaffolding in most of the world, with couplers, clips and clamps joining together standards, ledgers, braces, and transoms, to create elaborate frames that can completely encompass buildings, going up even more than 100 meters high.

However, creating gigantic scaffolding structures have weight. They take up space and need to be transported to and from the construction site. And workers need to put up that steel staging and take it down again.

A Better Solution

Which is why POSCO has created a major step forward in scaffolding technology – Ultra Light (UL) 700, a stronger, thinner, and lighter type of support structure.

Due to UL700 having 40-percent higher tensile strength than conventional steel scaffolding, POSCO has been able to reduce the thickness of scaffolding pipes from 2.3mm to 1.8mm. That makes UL700 25 percent lighter than conventional scaffolding, which in turn helps reduce transportation costs by 25 percent and gas emissions by 25 percent.

In addition, the lighter weight is less dangerous for workers, and reduces worker transportation time by 23.5 percent. UL700 is also more resistant to bending and has lower deformation, which also makes it more efficient. Despite all those advantages, UL700 is also very cost competitive, so companies can enjoy the scaffolding’s wide range of benefits and still come out ahead.

Check out this video to get an in-depth look at the many advantages that POSCO’s new UL700 steel scaffolding has to offer.

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