1 Scope

1.1
This Standard includes requirements for the safe operation of various types of suspended equipment used to gain access to interior or exterior, or both, sides of buildings or structures. Much of the equipment referred to in this Standard is designed, installed, inspected, and tested in accordance with CAN/CSA-Z271. It does not include crane-suspended platforms or baskets (see CAN/CSA-Z150), multi-point bridge platforms, or hanging scaffolds.

1.2
This Standard specifies the safety requirements for suspended equipment and rolling stages normally used for (but not limited to) window cleaning operations, general cleaning, repair, painting, maintenance, inspection, and construction operations and similar work.
Note: This coverage of a wide range of professional trades is greatly expanded from the focus on window cleaning in previous editions of the Standard.

1.3
This Standard is not intended to prevent the development of new equipment or practices nor to prescribe specifically how innovations should be handled.
Note: Equipment or safety devices different from those described in this Standard may be deemed to meet the requirements of this Standard, provided that it can be demonstrated to the satisfaction of the authority having jurisdiction, or the certification agency acting on its behalf, that these differences will not impair the suitability of the equipment or safety devices, or their intended use.

1.4
Where the requirements of this Standard are at variance with the requirements of other Standards or Codes referred to in this Standard, the requirements of this Standard take precedence.

1.5
In CSA Standards, ?shall? is used to express a requirement, i.e., a provision that the user is obliged to satisfy in order to comply with the standard; ?should? is used to express a recommendation or that which is advised but not required; and ?may? is used to express an option or that which is permissible within the limits of the standard. Notes accompanying clauses do not include requirements or alternative requirements; the purpose of a note accompanying a clause is to separate from the text explanatory or informative material. Notes to tables and figures are considered part of the table or figure and may be written as requirements. Legends to equations and figures are considered requirements.

1.6
The values given in SI (metric) units are the standard. However, because some equipment may be supplied in imperial units, equivalent yard/pound measurements are given in parentheses for information only.