OSHA puts out a list of the ten most commonly cited standard violations every year. Here's a list of OSHA's Top Ten, 2016. Scaffolding is on the list, and so we've got some great online scaffolding training available for you in this article.
Many of the same standards appear on the list again and again. As a result, we've pulled together a series of blogs to help you train your workers about each of the ten most cited standards. In this article, we've got a LOT of scaffolding training materials for you.
Let us know if you've got some other resources you'd suggest. The comments field awaits.
As the OSHA citation data below shows, we've got a lot of work to do when it comes to working with scaffolding more safely. Training's not the whole solution, but it can clearly contribute. We recommend using online scaffolding training courses along with other forms of scaffolding training in a blended learning solution for the most effective scaffolding training.
To help you comply better, here's the regulation itself (1926.451) and below are some additional statistics about scaffolding violations and citations.
Total Scaffolding citations- 3,900, a good-sized drop from 2015's total of 4,681.
Ranking in previous year- #3 (same as this year)
Top five sections cited-
With that intro completed, let's move on to some training material and helpful information about scaffolding.
Here is a sample of our Scaffolding e-learning course. The full course covers scaffolding hazards, types of scaffolds, scaffolding best practices, and more.
Check it out, it's pretty cool.
Here are some common scaffolding-related FAQs and answers to boot.
Here's OSHA's Safety & Health Topic page for Scaffolding.
According to an OSHA Scaffolding eTool,
"An estimated 2.3 million construction workers, or 65 percent of the construction industry, work on scaffolds frequently. Protecting these workers from scaffold-related accidents would prevent 4,500 injuries and 50 deaths every year, at a savings for American employers of $90 million in workdays not lost." (Source)
Common hazards associated with scaffolding include the following issues:
Only a qualified person can design a scaffold. Once the qualified person has designed a scaffold, it must then be constructed and loaded in according with that design.
According to OSHA, a qualified person is a person who:
As part of the scaffold design process, a qualified person must "pre-plan" to assure the safe erection and use of the scaffold. This includes:
An erector is someone who assembles scaffolding, and a dismantler is someone who disassembles scaffolding.
Yes, erectors and dismantlers must receive training before they can assemble and/or disassemble scaffolding.
Here's more information about scaffolding training requirements.
A competent person must be the one who delivers training to scaffolding erectors and dismantlers. This competent person must:
Scaffold users are those whose work requires them, at least some of the time, to be supported by scaffolding to access the area of a structure where that work is performed.
Yes, every employee who performs work while on a scaffold must receive training.
A qualified person provide training to each employee who is a scaffold user.
This competent person must:
The training must enable employees to recognize the hazards associated with the type of scaffold being used and to understand the procedures to control or minimize those hazards.
Here's more information about scaffolding training requirements.
Suspended scaffolds are platforms suspended by ropes, or other non-rigid means, from an overhead structure.
There are several types of suspended scaffolds, and OSHA imposes different requirements for each.
These types are:
Supported scaffolds consist of one or more platforms supported by outrigger beams, brackets, poles, legs, uprights, posts, frames, or similar rigid support.
There are several types of supported scaffolds, and OSHA imposes different requirements for each.
These types are:
There are three. Or four, depending on how you count 'em. There's:
Much of the information printed above on this page came from that first OSHA scaffolding eTool.
They have an entire webpage on scaffolding in the construction industry, and here are a bunch of resources to help with your scaffolding training program.
They have a nice two-part checklist. Here's the Scaffolding Self-Inspection Checklist Part 1 and the Scaffolding Self-Inspection Checklist Part 2.
Jeff Dalto, Senior Learning & Performance Improvement Manager
Jeff is a learning designer and performance improvement specialist with more than 20 years in learning and development, 15+ of which have been spent working in manufacturing, industrial, and architecture, engineering & construction training. Jeff has worked side-by-side with more than 50 companies as they implemented online training. Jeff is an advocate for using evidence-based training practices and is currently completing a Masters degree in Organizational Performance and Workplace Learning from Boise State University. He writes the Vector Solutions | Convergence Training blog and invites you to connect with him on LinkedIn.
