Scaffolds: Before You Climb On

Scaffold collapses and falls from scaffolds injure thousands of workers a year, and the causes repeat: planking short, guardrails missing, base not level, or somebody modified it who had no business doing so.

Look before you step on

• The tag. Green means inspected and ready. Yellow means restrictions apply — read them. Red means do not use. No tag at all means find the competent person, not "it's probably fine."
• Fully planked. Platforms planked across the full width, planks overlapping properly and secured against uplift. Gaps swallow feet.
• Guardrails above ten feet — top rail, midrail, toeboard. Toeboards protect the person underneath as much as the person on it.
• Base. Level, on mud sills or base plates, on ground that will not soften after rain. Never on blocks, bricks or a stack of offcuts.
• Access. A stair, ladder or built-in access point. Climbing the frame is not access.
• Distance from the wall. More than 14 inches and you need fall protection on the inboard side.

Who is allowed to touch it

Erecting, moving, dismantling or altering a scaffold happens under the supervision of a competent person, by trained workers. Pulling one plank to fit a pipe, or dropping a guardrail "for a minute" to land material, is altering it.

If it is in your way, you ask. You do not adjust it.

Working on it

• Do not overload. Materials as well as people. Scaffolds are rated, and the rating assumes distributed load, not a pallet in one bay.
• Keep it clear. Snow, ice, mud, debris, offcuts and cords all belong somewhere else.
• Stay off in high wind and storms, and have it re-inspected afterwards.
• Ten feet from power lines for insulated lines under 300 volts, and further for anything else. Assume every line is live.