Scaffolding Safely (OSHA) Training Course Description

Scaffolds are temporary elevated platforms that let crews reach high work areas safely and efficiently. They show up in nearly every industry, from high-rise construction to film sets. But working on or around them brings distinct risks, so everyone involved needs to understand the hazards, deal with them before work starts, and know how to respond if something goes wrong.

Safety on scaffolds is a shared responsibility. This course covers the procedures and best practices that create a safe working environment on every scaffold.

Course Content

This course includes the following topics:

• Scaffold basics: where they are used and their limits
• Suspended scaffolds versus supported scaffolds
• Scaffolds alongside ladders and mobile elevating work platforms
• Choosing the right scaffold for the task
• Scaffold components: modular systems versus tube-and-frame
• Built-in safety features to look for
• Inspection routines and tagging systems
• Safe use and what OSHA requires
• Finding and controlling scaffold hazards
• Personal protective equipment and fall protection on scaffolds
• Emergencies: collapses, falls, and injuries
• How to report scaffold incidents

What You Will Learn

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Know when a scaffold is the right choice for the job
• Name the key parts of a scaffold
• List the steps of a daily scaffold inspection
• Follow safe work procedures on and around scaffolds
• Recognize scaffold hazards and know how to control them
• Take the right actions when a scaffold emergency happens

Why Scaffold Safety Training Matters

Scaffold failures make the news because they are dramatic, but the more common scaffold injuries are quieter: a worker who steps through an unguarded opening, a slipped plank, a shock from a power line the scaffold was built too close to. OSHA’s scaffold standard is detailed for a reason. Every guardrail height, plank overlap, and tie-in requirement was written after someone got hurt.

This course is for the people who build, use, and supervise scaffolds: masons, painters, siding crews, maintenance teams, and the competent persons who inspect scaffolds before each shift. Whether you work on frame scaffolds, suspended platforms, or rolling towers, the inspection habits and hazard awareness in this training apply every time you climb up.

Course details (as of October 2026): This course takes about 60 minutes to complete. You need a score of 80% to pass, and you have three attempts at the final test.