Attaching a ringlock scaffold structure to a shipping container

Mihalis Kuzmics, an ex-marine surveyor and founder of BOTC training in Latvia, recently used Domino Clamps to attach a ringlock scaffold structure incorporating ladders and a platform to a shipping container, creating a mobile training site that is mainly used for their Work at Height Training.

BOTC Training carries out training courses including working at height, industrial safety, survival and rescue training for industries including maritime, offshore oil & gas and renewables.

Mihalis has extensive experience working with containers, using them to build their training unit sites. He says that one of the benefits of using shipping containers is that they are always mobile, allowing them to pack everything up inside the container ready to ship off to the next training venue. 

Before using Domino Clamps, BOTC would weld their training structures to the shipping containers, which often led to extensive corrosion to the container. With this in mind, they wanted to find an alternative solution to avoid damaging the container in any way. The other downside is that welding is extremely hot work which is not always ideal, depending on the location. 

One of their previous projects had around 20 containers onsite in a hangar. They were all different sizes and colours and it looked more like a construction site than somewhere for training to take place. They didn't like this industrial look so decided to clad everything in wood, and give it a Scandinavian style but the problem was that some of the containers were owned by them and some of the containers had been rented specifically for the project. Mihalis needed to find a way they could attach the timber to the outside of the container without damaging the exteriors or resulting in any holes. They tried a method for this project by using wood inside the corner casting’s holes and screwing more wood to the outside to make a frame but it was a crude fix, so he started looking for a more industrial, robust solution.

Mihalis started researching for a standardised way to attach something to a shipping container, not just a simple attachment like a scaffold tube but something that would work when building an actual structure. They needed a solution to attach platforms and other structures without welding to the container but also wanted to be able to remain mobile and ready to mobilise quickly for their future projects. This is when they discovered Domino Clamps.

The first project they used Domino Clamps for was a ringlock scaffold tower approximately eight metres high. It took a while to work out which were the best fittings to use with the Domino Clamps as the scaffold supplier wasn't very helpful, so they needed to try out a couple of solutions to find the best way to attach the scaffold to the container using the Domino Clamps. This was all part of what they called their research and development stage of the project, where they also independently tested the Domino Clamp for its corrosion resistance.

“The Domino Clamp is a robust and industrial design, we spent some time testing them before we used them because we needed to make sure they were corrosion resistant. We left them where they would be exposed to the sea to ensure this was the case, I can't see any signs of oxidation so from that perspective I am happy with the metal and securing them and setting everything up is fine.”

In their current project they are using the Domino Clamps to build a platform on a container roof, and in addition to what they have already used Domino Clamps for so far Mihalis thinks an interesting application would be to attach a horizontal ladder, at an angle, to a stack of two or three shipping containers creating a ladder platform. Then attaching another ladder at 90 degrees to the horizontal, this would be especially useful for when they are providing fire training, teaching people how to fight fires. 

When we asked Mihalis to describe Domino Clamps in three words: “Standardised, Robust and Simple”

Great to hear from you Mihalis, thanks for your feedback!

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