Over the years, there have been many accidents, injuries, and fatalities that have resulted from improperly constructed scaffolding.  These accidents, injuries, and fatalities have strongly punctuated employers’ obligations to implement better practices related to scaffolding and safety training programs to promote safety awareness when working from scaffolds. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), there were 54 fatalities related to scaffolding and staging in 2009. In that same year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 72 percent of workers injured in scaffolding accidents claimed that their accident resulted from problems with planks or scaffold supports giving way. Slipping and being struck by falling objects are also common causes of injuries associated with scaffolding.

We provide scaffolding safety training and consulting services to companies who are concerned about safety and compliance. These services include:

• Fall Protection Training – Falls are the most common causes of serious work related injuries. QualSafe Solutions creates a custom plan for your team to prevent employees from falling when performing various duties on the job.

• Scaffold Inspections, Audits and Tagging Requirements – When onsite, we will ensure that scaffolds meet OSHA requirements and are generally safe for your employees to access and work from. When auditing scaffolds on the project, we’ll verify that tags are in place and employees are trained to observe scaffold tag requirements.

• Specialized Equipment – QualSafe Solutions has an extensive inventory of safety equipment to support our clients’ needs, including fall protection designed for use with scaffolding, scaffold tags and more. We continue to upgrade our scaffolding safety equipment to ensure we have the latest safety technology available.

OSHA revised its standards regarding the construction of scaffolding in 1996. At that time, they found that in a quarter of the cases where a scaffolding accident occurred, employees had not been trained and there were no scaffolding training programs in place. In more than three-quarters of these scaffolding incidents, the particular scaffolding involved in the incident did not have appropriate and required guard railing in place.

Estimates suggest that up to 50 lives can be saved, and more that 4,500 accidents can be prevented annually when companies comply with the revised OSHA standards. The performance based standards set in place to protect your employees from scaffold injuries and death can serve to protect them from those common scaffolding accidents such as falls, objects that my fall on your employees, scaffold structures that may be unstable, electrocution and overloading of scaffolding structures.

The QualSafe Commitment

At QualSafe Solutions, we know that personal injury, property damage, environmental issues and resulting loss of production are not acceptable costs of doing business. That is why our highly qualified safety professionals can help you with scaffold safety and OSHA compliance. Having the proper training, equipment and consulting services accessible to your team can help you prevent accidents before they occur.

Running a business is stressful enough, let QualSafe help you comply with the OSHA scaffolding requirements. Our experienced Safety Compliance Specialists are knowledgeable of scaffolding safety compliance requirements and can help your company ensure compliance with OSHA’s scaffold related standards, 1910 Subpart D for general industry, and 1926 Subpart L for construction.  We know the regulations and work hard to stay informed of new or changing requirements.  It is this knowledge and expertise that allow us to provide the best solution for your company in any given circumstance involving the use of scaffolds. For more information, contact us today!