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Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.

OSHA Press Release: OSHA Issues New Standard to Protect Workers On Scaffolds In Construction, Preventing Thousands of Injuries As Well As Dozens of Fatalities Each Year [08/29/1996]

For more information call: (202) 219-8151

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) today issued a revised standard to protect millions of workers on scaffolds in the construction industry. The new standard will prevent about 4,500 injuries and 50 deaths annually.

An estimated 2.3 million construction workers (about 65 percent of the construction industry work force) work on scaffolds frequently and would be protected by the revised standard.

The rule also will save construction employers at least $90 million annually in costs that would otherwise result from lost workdays due to scaffold-related injuries.

Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear said, "The lives that will be saved and the injuries prevented by the requirements in this new standard are in addition to those deaths and injuries already prevented through compliance with the old scaffolds standard. Employers' savings will far outweigh the costs of compliance, which are estimated at only $12.6 million per year nationwide."

The final rule sets performance-based criteria, where possible, to protect employees from scaffold-related hazards such as falls, falling objects, structural instability, electrocution and overloading.

The standard also has been updated to cover types of scaffolds such as catenary scaffolds, step and trestle scaffolds, and multi-level suspended scaffolds that had not been covered by OSHA's existing scaffold standards.

In addition, the revised standard allows employers greater flexibility in the use of fall protection systems to protect employees working on scaffolds and extends fall protection and other provisions to workers erecting and dismantling scaffolds.

The standard also strengthens training for workers using scaffolds, including spelling out when such workers must be retrained. Each year, more than 9,500 workers are injured and 80 killed in scaffolding-related accidents.

Existing OSHA regulations on scaffolds in construction were initially adopted in May 1971 and have been in place with only minor amendments since then. OSHA became aware of concerns about the effectiveness of these standards and began a complete review, which culminated in a November 1986 notice of proposed rulemaking on scaffolds used in construction. Public hearings were held March 22-23, 1988, and OSHA reopened the record twice (in 1993 and 1994) to receive additional input on a number of topics.

Among the issues resolved as the result of the public comments and public hearings were:

1. Trigger height for fall protection on scaffolds. OSHA decided to retain the 10-foot trigger height for fall protection on scaffolds.
2. Guardrail height. The final rule sets the minimum top rail height at 38 inches for scaffolds where the guardrail is the primary means of fall protection. It permits a top rail height of 36 inches for scaffolds where personal fall arrest systems are the principal means of fall protection and guardrail systems serve primarily to mark the perimeters.
3. Fall protection and safe access for erectors and dismantlers on built-up scaffolds. The revised standard requires a competent person to determine the feasibility and safety of providing fall protection and safe access for scaffold erectors and dismantlers, based on job site conditions, but does not require the determination to be in writing. The effective date of these provisions is being delayed for one year during which time OSHA will work with stakeholders to develop a non-mandatory appendix that will contain criteria to help employers determine the feasibility and safety of providing fall protection or safe access at particular workplaces.
4. Crossbracing. The final rule permits the use of crossbracing in lieu of either a mid rail or a top rail, where specified criteria are followed, but not in lieu of an entire guardrail system. Such use of crossbracing is allowed only on the intermediate levels of scaffolds, not the final top level.

Among the organizations that participated in the rulemaking were the Advisory Committee on Construction Safety and Health (ACCSH); the Scaffold Industry Association; the Scaffolding, Shoring and Forming Institute; the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department; and the Associated General Contractors of America.

The standard will become effective Nov. 29, 1996, except for one section requiring collection of information (a written certification from manufacturers of aerial lifts under certain conditions) which will not become effective until the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) takes action in accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. Written comments on the paperwork requirements of the final rule must be submitted on or before Oct. 29, 1996.

Employers will be required to comply with provisions on safe access and fall protection for employees erecting and dismantling supported scaffolds on Sept. 2, 1997.

Several nonmandatory appendices are included with the standard to assist employers in complying. They provide information on designing scaffold systems, as well as a list of national consensus standards related to aerial lifts, a list of training topics for scaffold erectors and dismantlers, and drawings and illustrations of scaffolds and scaffold components and bracing patterns and tie patterns.

Suggestions and information regarding drafting of a nonmandatory appendix on "Criteria for Determining the Feasibility of Providing Fall Protection and Safe Access for Workers Erecting or Dismantling Supported Scaffolds" should be submitted to the Docket Officer, Docket S-205, U.S. Department of Labor, Room N-2625, 200 Constitution Ave., N.W., Washington, D.C., 20210, telephone (202) 219-7894.

The standard is published in the Friday, Aug. 30, 1996, Federal Register.

Archived News Release--Caution: information may be out of date.