Scaffolding Safety & Scaffold Tagging

What is Scaffolding Safety?

Scaffolding safety is a combination of practices and safety procedures that enforce the proper and safe use of scaffolding. It involves a set of preemptive actions when building, inspecting, using, and tagging scaffolds. Compliance with OSHA’s scaffold standards and requirements can minimize workers’ exposure to hazards such as falls, electrocution, and falling objects.

Importance

Around 65% of the construction industry works on scaffolds and experiences 4,500 injuries and 60 fatalities annually in the United States alone. Scaffolding safety is important because it can help prevent workplace incidents from recurring. With baseline scaffold requirements such as better inspections, training, and controls, frontline teams can ensure scaffolding safety and proactively build a safety culture from the ground up.

3 Types of Scaffolds

There are different types of scaffolds: supported, suspended, and others. Each type of scaffolding has its own benefits and drawbacks, making it better suited to certain use cases.

1. Supported scaffold

As its name suggests, these scaffolds are built from the ground up with rigid supports such as frames, poles, and outriggers.

Common hazards:

• Missing or incomplete guardrails

• Gaps between planks

• Slippery platforms

• Climbing the scaffold without using a ladder or stair tower

2. Suspended scaffold

These platforms hang from above using ropes, cables, or chains attached to a strong structural support (e.g., roof beams and independent anchors). Usually adjustable to a certain height, it’s best for elevated worksites that cannot be reached by ground-level scaffolds.

Common hazards:

• Suspension rope, outrigger, anchor, or hoist failure

• Overloaded platforms

• Lack of guardrails or personal fall arrest systems

• Contact with overhead powerlines

• Sudden movement or stops, and swaying of the wind that can knock workers off balance

3. Other types

These refer to manlifts, hoists, and other machine-powered platforms, which set them apart from standard buildable platforms. Usually called machinery/vehicle-type scaffolds, they are typically mounted on road vehicles such as trucks or trailers.

Common hazards:

• Sudden machine movement (e.g., collision, hitting a bump, or high-speed driving) that can cause ejection

• Poorly maintained or defective machines

• Lack of guardrails, harnesses, and other protective devices

OSHA Scaffolding Safety: Who is a Competent and Qualified Person?

According to OSHA, a competent person is “one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions, which are unsanitary, hazardous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them.”

This is typically someone who holds a scaffolding high-risk work license. This license enables them to tackle day-to-day operations and assess the risks that come with it, including the following:

• Recognizing and evaluating hazards in real-time

• Taking prompt corrective action and stopping work when necessary

• Performing required inspections

A qualified person is one who “has successfully demonstrated his/her ability to solve or resolve problems related to the subject matter, the work, or the project.” A qualified person has the right background, such as an education or degree, in designing safe scaffolding.

As the technical expert, a qualified person has more authority to address the root of the problem directly by developing safer, more efficient scaffolding designs. Their core responsibilities include:

• Providing technical design, analysis, and calculations.

• Resolving complex and unusual safety problems (e.g., odd building geometry, heavy loads, custom anchorages, etc.)

• Developing written procedures, drawings, and specs for work safety

Scaffolding Safety Tips: Basic Dos and Don’ts

Here’s a simple scaffolding requirements guide you can follow to control the hazards associated with scaffold work:

Scaffolding Safety Dos:

• Inspect the scaffold using a checklist or mobile inspection app before the work shift.

• Provide proper training.

• Have a toolbox talk before beginning work.

• Wear appropriate PPE.

• Always check inspection tags.

• Know the weight capacity of the scaffold.

• Have a handhold above the scaffold platform.

• Level the scaffold after each move. Do not extend adjusting leg screws more than 12 inches.

• Use your safety belts and lanyards when working on scaffolding at a height of 10 feet or more above ground level. Attach the lanyard to a secure member of the scaffold.

• Safely use the ladder when climbing the cross braces for access to the scaffold.

• Keep both feet on the decking.

• Stay off the scaffold during loading or unloading.

• Follow the manufacturer’s instructions when erecting the scaffold, under the direct supervision of a competent person.

• Be mindful of coworkers working above and below you at all times, as well as others working on the scaffold.

• Always use netting to catch anything that falls.

Scaffolding Safety Don’ts:

• Don’t leave anything on the scaffold at the end of your shift.

• Don’t overload the scaffold.

• Don’t use unstable objects to support scaffolds or increase your work height or planks.

• Don’t use the scaffold if it appears to be damaged in any way.

• Don’t walk on scaffold planking covered in ice, snow, or mud.

• Don’t use a scaffold during adverse weather conditions.

• Don’t lean out or overreach outside the guardrails.

• Don’t rock the scaffold.

• Don’t throw anything “overboard” unless a spotter is available.

• Don’t move a mobile scaffold if anyone is on it.

We are now able to attribute volume of quality inspections with a decrease in incidents and injuries… and we all win.

How to Build a Scaffolding

Understanding how workers must behave around scaffolds is a key step toward ensuring everyone’s safety. However, it’s also important that these scaffolds are properly built to minimize risk. See below for some simple steps to build and use scaffolding properly:

• Barricade the scaffolding area and put signage indicating an ongoing scaffolding structure.

• Find the corner point and align the scaffolding with the building.

• Assemble the parts of the first lift to set up positions for soleplates then ensure that they form a firm foundation for the scaffolding.

• Adjust the baseplates to accommodate uneven floors and grounds.

• Erect the first bay by starting at the highest point.

• Use a spirit level to align the bay, then alter the baseplates through baseplate adjustments.

• Check if the distance of the bay from the building is correct, then move it if required—use a lever to safely move the bay.

• Measure the diagonal dimensions of the bay or align the plates to make sure that they are squared.

• Set up the pins, wedges, upper transom, and ledgers, then complete the first bay.

• Create a working platform by arranging planks in a lift—this makes it easier to add the succeeding upper ledgers and transoms.

• Construct scaffold returns similar to how the other bays were structured.

• Connect the main scaffold to the return by tying them together using scaffold tubes and right-angled couplers.

• Install the standards for the next level then set up transoms and ledgers to function as temporary guard rails.

• Set up the working platform by arranging all the transoms and ledgers for the next lift.

• Continue to build the scaffold until the desired number and height of lifts are established.

• Arrange a working platform between the scaffold and the building by installing hop-up brackets.

• Inspect the scaffold to ensure safety before authorizing its use.

To perform a comprehensive scaffold inspection, you can use this Mobile Scaffold Safety Checklist developed by the Working at Height Association (WAHA). This ready-to-use template complies with the safety guidance outlined by Safe Work Australia when dealing with scaffold work.

Scaffold Tagging System and Meaning

Follow the guidelines below when tagging scaffolds.

• A unique scaffold identification tag number must be identified on all tags for tracking purposes.

• All scaffolds shall be inspected after the erection per regulatory requirements.

• All scaffold identification tags will be of a solid green, yellow, or red color with black lettering.

• Front information is displayed and completed for each tag.

Green Scaffold Tags

Meaning: Tags will be hung on scaffolds that have been inspected and are safe for use. A green “ SAFE FOR USE ” tag(s), and should be attached to the scaffold at each access point after the initial inspection is complete.

Yellow Scaffold Tags

Meaning: “ CAUTION ” tag(s), will replace all green “Safe Scaffold” tag(s) whenever the scaffold has been modified to meet work requirements, and as a result, could present a hazard to the user. This tag indicates special requirements for safe use.

NOTE: Use of the “yellow tag” status is not intended to override the green tag system. All efforts should be made to return the scaffold to a “Green Tag” status as soon as possible.

Red Scaffold Tags

Meaning: “ DANGER – UNSAFE FOR USE ” tag(s), will be used during erection or dismantling when the scaffold is left unattended and replace all green “Safe for Use ” tag(s) or yellow “Caution / Hazard “ tag(s) in the event a scaffold has been deemed unfit for use.