Putting Safety First Can Prevent Scaffolding Hazards

Putting Safety First Can Prevent Scaffolding Hazards

An estimated 2.3 million construction workers, or 65 percent of the construction industry, work on scaffolds. Protecting these workers from scaffold-related accidents may prevent some of the 4,500 injuries and over 60 deaths every year based on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). For information, 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.

Based on OSHA citation for scaffolding were issued last year, representing a 30-percent increase over 2008 and topping OSHA’s 2009 list of the 10 most frequently cited safety violation.

The following are a few cases selected from an accident investigation search of OSHA's database :

• Electric Shock - Contact with Overhead Line through Scaffold
• Employee Killed in Scaffold Collapse
• Employee Killed When Box Falls
• Employee Breaks His Back in Fall From Scaffolding
• Employee Killed in Fall From Scaffolding
• Employee Injured After Being Struck By Collapsing Scaffold
• Employee Dies in Fall Through Scaffolding
• Employee Killed By Falling Scaffold

A partial list of the most common scaffolding hazards includes:

• Planks and platforms missing, broken, containing holes and/or not properly anchored
• Ice, water, grease, or other substances on planks or platforms
• Handrails missing or inadequate
• Toe boards not installed properly
• Inadequate footing
• Scaffolding not tied off properly
• Broken or damaged pieces of scaffolding
• Electrical hazards.

A scaffolding competent person should be directly involved in the supervision of the scaffold erection, moving, and dismantling, and should be conducting ongoing inspections of all scaffolding throughout the project. A qualified person should insure that all employees working on scaffolding have been properly trained to recognize and report potential hazards.

A scaffolding qualified person is required to:

• Design and load scaffolds in accordance with their design
• Train employees working on the scaffolds to recognize the associated hazards and understand procedures to control or minimize those hazards
• Design construction of scaffold components in accordance with the design.

Ongoing training, open communication, regular inspections, and timely hazard correction by well qualified and diligent job site supervisors will ensure compliance with safety standards for scaffolding and, more importantly, an accident-free job site.