OSHA Construction: Scaffolding Safety

This OSHA-developed training provides safety information for construction employees working on or around scaffolding. When OSHA revised its scaffolds standard in 1996, BLS studies showed that 25% of workers injured in scaffold accidents had received no scaffold safety training, and 77% of scaffolds were not equipped with guardrails. OSHA estimates that informed employers and workers, in compliance with correct safety standards, can save as many as 50 lives and prevent 4,500 accidents every year. In a recent BLS study, 72 percent of workers injured in scaffold accidents attributed the accident either to the planking or support giving way, or to the employee slipping or being struck by a falling object.

The OSHA standard sets performance-based criteria to protect employees from scaffold-related hazards such as falls, falling objects, structural instability, electrocution, or overloading. It also addresses training and various types of scaffolds, as well as falling object protection, ladders, weather conditions, aerial lifts, stilts, and other matters that are not covered in OSHA's previous scaffolding standards. In addition, it allows employers more flexibility when using protective systems for workers on scaffolding.

This training defines various types of supported scaffolding, explains their hazards, and identifies ways to work safely on and around scaffolds.

All construction employees working on or around scaffolding.

• Basic Types of Scaffolds
  • The supported scaffold
  • The suspension scaffold
  • The aerial lift
• Scaffold Hazards
  • Falls
  • Collapse
  • Struck by hazards
• Guardrails and PFAS
  • Guardrails
  • Personal Fall Arrest Systems (PFAS)
• Protecting Yourself from Hazards
  • Hard hat
  • Toeboards, debris nets, catch platforms, or canapy structures
  • Electrocution
• Proper Scaffold Construction
  • Platforms
  • Scaffold Height
  • Platform ends
  • Platform structural supports
• Scaffod Access
  • Requirements for erecting and dismantling supported scaffolds
  • Recognizing hazards
• Fatal Facts
  • Examples of fatal accidents
• The Competent Person
  • Hazard recognition
  • Training

• Know the characteristics of various types of scaffolds.
  • Name the three types of scaffolds.
  • Describe the main characteristics of scaffolds.
• Be aware of the hazards you are exposed to when working on scaffolds.
  • List the main hazards of working on scaffolding.
  • Describe scaffolding hazard prevention.
• Understand scaffold construction.
  • State the maximum load a scaffold platform must be able to support.