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An explanation of the term “Competent Person” and its relation to scaffold user training and scaffold competent person training. Can a scaffold user be a competent person? Does it require a competent person to be a scaffold user? And what if you are incompetent—does that mean you cannot be a...

In the year 2000, at the turn of the century, the U.S. Federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration, OSHA, issued a Letter of Interpretation wherein it opined that aerial lifts known as scissors lifts (see illustration) are not aerial lifts but instead are mobile scaffolds. The opinion was...

The OSHA standards require a scaffold user to have training. One of the requirements of that training is that the user must know “The maximum intended load and the load carrying capacities of the scaffold used” [29 CFR 1926.454(a)(4)]. (In case you are wondering, erectors are suppose to know this...

Since scaffolding includes many types of products used in many different applications, it is difficult to address all the specific issues that may develop during the use of scaffolding. In other words, there are a lot of questions; here are a few. Do I need to know the OSHA scaffold standards? No....

It appears the U.S. Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, OSHA, has managed to thoroughly twist a well written scaffold regulation to the point where many scaffold erectors, users and compliance officers will be totally confused. I am referring to a recent Letter of Interpretation...