Scaffolding is used on construction job sites every single day and can become a hazard if proper precautions are not taken. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 54 fatalities occurred from scaffold related accidents in 2009 and 72% of those accidents were attributed to either the plank or support giving way. Roughly 4,500 additional workers are injured on a scaffold every year, as well.
To make it easier to train your crew and make scaffold safety a top priority on you jobs, we’ve compiled a list of scaffold safety related documents for your reference:
OSHA
- OSHA scaffolding eTool- contains a complete guide for all types of scaffolding
- OSHA scaffolding Powerpoint Presentation (download)
Tool Box Talks
- American Safety Consultants Scaffolding Tool Box Talk- sample layout of a pre-work meeting along with a sign in sheet
- JJ Keller Sample Scaffold Tool Box Talks- a complete guide for running scaffold safety tool box talks with topics ranging from access to erecting/dismantling to fall protection
Videos
- Scaffolding Safety- State Compensation Insurance Fund (15 minutes)
- Supported Scaffold Safety Basis- Crucible Safety Media (4 minutes)
- Scaffold Safety (Spanish)-National Safety Compliance (23 minutes)
What scaffold safety resources do you use? Let us know any we’ll add it to the guide!
After an abundance of delays on rule that would require crane operators to be formally qualified to operate, OSHA finally landed on an effective date of February 7, 2019. After receiving feedback from industry partners, OSHA has decided to delay enforcement for 60 days for contractors who make a “good faith effort” to comply.
As has been expected for a few months now, OSHA has officially removed the requirement for large companies with 250 or more employees to submit OSHA Forms 300 and 301. The administration cited privacy concerns as the reason for the change.
Be careful - owners and contractors are now being held criminally liable for their carelessness and disregard of safety protocols.
Since the 2016 Federal budget was passed, OSHA has increased their maximum citation penalty amount to adjust for inflation on a yearly basis. The 2019 increase has recently been announced.
Last November, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. announced felonious assault charges against a contractor’s superintendent and a manufacturer’s branch manager after two men suffered horrific injuries on a New York jobsite. Last week, OSHA formally announced citations against the St. Louis, Missouri based contractor.
After an uptick in construction industry fatalities in 2016, a recent Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that both the amount of construction worker deaths and the rate of fatality dropped in 2017.
At the National Safety Council Congress & Expo on October 23, 2018, OSHA’s deputy director of Directorate of Enforcement Programs, Patrick Kapust, announced their 10 most frequesntly cited safety violations for their fiscal year 2018.
On March 15, 2018, 6 people were killed and 8 others were injured when an under construction pedestrian bridge collapsed in Florida. Several months later, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) released their preliminary report while conducting an official investigation. The NTSB later issued an “Investigative Update” to their preliminary report in August. In Mid-November, the NTSB released a 2nd investigative update, narrowing their root cause theories.
Multi-employer worksites are extremely common in the construction industry, but they can still make work extremely complicated. One of those complications results when a subcontractor receives a governmental violation, such as an OSHA violation. As a controlling employer on the site, can a general contractor be held responsible for safety hazards of a subcontractor? One court says yes.