Course Introduction

Many residential and commercial construction projects require the use of some form of scaffolding. Unsafe scaffolding procedures can cause accidents, serious injuries and even death. Accidents involving scaffolding mainly involve workers falling, incorrect operating procedures, environmental conditions, and falling materials.

As with many considerations on construction projects, safety is very important in scaffolding design and use. There are a number of legal requirements, legislations, and regulations that must be met by a construction company. According to OSHA, it is mandatory for employers to “furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees“. Developing a Safe Scaffold Program (SSP) is an effective way to make sure the company meets these requirements.

An important support organization for those involved with the use of scaffolds is the Scaffold & Access Industry Association. In 2013, OSHA renewed an Alliance agreement with SAIA to mutually share information on OSH laws and standards, and to continue educational opportunities to forge solutions to OSH issues.

This course will discuss the elements of an effective Scaffold Safety Program (SSP) with emphasis on pre-planning the erection, use and dismantling processes.

Note: Special thanks goes out to the North Carolina Department of Labor (NCDOL), Occupational Safety and Health Division, for providing the primary source document for this course, A Guide to Safe Scaffolding. NCDOL provides many other valuable publications for safety professionals, and we recommend visiting them at www.nclabor.com.

Modules

To begin your training, click on the module links below. If you are just starting this course, you should start with module 1.

1. The Scaffold Safety Program
2. Project Supervision
3. Scaffold Training Requirements
4. Fall Protection on Scaffolds

Please login to your student dashboard to access and download this FREE course PDF studyguide. You can save this study guide to your computer for offline studying, or print the study guide if you prefer.

Course 803 Final Exam

After studying the course material and answering the quiz questions, it is time to take the final exam. We highly recommend answering the module quiz questions to check your understanding of the course material. The final exam questions are typically developed from these quiz questions.

OSHAcademy course final exams are designed to make sure students have gained a sufficient understanding of the content covered within each course. To help demonstrate this understanding, students must achieve a passing score on course final exams. It is OSHAcademy's policy to protect the integrity of our exams: as a result, we do not provide missed questions to students.

This is an open book exam. Students are permitted to use a separate browser window to review course content while taking the exam. If you do not pass a final exam, you will see a "Retake Exam" button next to the course on your student dashboard.

If you have already paid for your certificate

If you have already paid for certificates, your exam score will be displayed on your student dashboard after successfully passing the final exam. If you chose PDF certificates, you can view and print your certificate and personal transcript from your student dashboard. If you chose original printed documents, they will be prepared and mailed to the address in your student account.

If you only want free training

OSHAcademy provides free access to all training materials, including course modules, practice quizzes, exercises, and final exams. However, exam scores, certificates, and transcripts are provided only if you purchase a certificate package to document your training. If you do not require official training documentation, we will archive your exam results should you decide to purchase official certificates later.

Take the Final Exam

Endnotes

1. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2014). CFR 1926, Subpart L, Scaffolds. Department of Labor (DOL), Retrieved from:
https://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=STANDARDS&p_id=10916

2. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2014a). A Guide to Scaffold Use in the Construction Industry. Retrieved from:
www.osha.gov/Publications/osha3150.pdf

3. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. (2014b). Scaffolding. Retrieved from:
www.osha.gov/SLTC/scaffolding/construction.html

Additional Resources

• Scaffolding E-Tool
• Safety and Health Topics
• Narrow Frame Scaffolds
• Scaffold Use in the Construction Industry
• Supported Scaffold Inspections