My opinion is the first part of that definition is the important part - a period of seven days. The second part is just an additional qualifier that actually reinforces that the "start day" is arbitrary as it is only "generally reckoned", even more so when the other typical convention is a Mon-Sun week.Oxford defines a week as "a period of seven days generally reckoned from and to midnight on Saturday night". — Dave McBeth
Which could literally be done the next day to "tick the box" for the next week. Take this to the extreme and you could (based on a Sun-Sat week) inspect the scaffold at 11:55pm Saturday night for one week, go have a 10 minute smoko break and come back at 12:05am Sunday morning to complete the next weeks inspection. I know that is an absurd conclusion, but it is also a logical conclusion.Other things to consider are that a 13-day gap between inspections would mean a shorter gap for the next inspection — Dave McBeth
This is a key point for me too, and what I think is most important the main contractors (and any subcontractor that uses the scaffold) to understand - the weekly inspections (regardless of how you actually define the time-frames) are actually the back-up measure for a "more" competent person to regularly check that no issues with the scaffold are being missed in the daily checks.he scaffolding company is only one of the PCBUs responsible for scaffolds being 'safe'. — Dave McBeth
Your comment, though, on 11:55pm and 12:05 am potential timing for inspections is valid, although, as you say, absurd. Having inspections exactly seven days apart is ideal, but things like public holidays, pandemics, higher priority work etc. mean that it may not be feasible. Also, the day may not always be suitable for the client. — Dave McBeth
I get the feeling we're basically on the same line of thought but just coming from different directions - essentially "don't take the piss", or more (or less) elegantly put "comply with the intent of the requirement, not just the wording".If the intention for weekly inspections was to be so prescriptive in the inspections of scaffolds, it should have been determined to occur 'every seven days' as opposed to weekly. I believe weekly is an indication of frequency, not an arbitrary measure. That way it allows for the vagaries of the workplace without putting undue pressure on those involved. — Dave McBeth
My point was that phrase "generally reckoned" implies there are also other accepted start/end days - e.g. the typical Mon-Sun week, but also that a week could be defined in a contract as beginning on the day the contract is signed and reoccurring on every 7 day after that, e.g. Wed-Tue.Good points Matt. You mention that the second part of the definition of a week is an 'additional qualifier' and that the definition of a week should be "a period of seven days". I'm not sure that cherry picking parts of a dictionary definition is great practice. If I was standing in front of a magistrate my sphincter might be giving me trouble at that point. — Dave McBeth
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