Scaffolding is essential in the construction, maintenance, renovation, and demolition of tall buildings. When working at great heights, it’s important that everyone follows the safest practices to avoid falling and other accidents. To keep your team safe, we’ve brought together the 10 best scaffolding training courses for construction.
This course by SC Training (formerly EdApp) is a fantastic introduction to scaffolding. Before learning about hazards and safety measures, your team must know how these supporting structures work. It covers all the different types of scaffolding, how to use and enter them, their capacity, and how to behave around ladder beams.
It also goes into detail about the specific measurements and dimensions each scaffold must maintain to follow OSHA standards. For example, in Lesson 2: Access & Use, employers should confirm that there’s always a point of access for every 2 feet above or below a scaffolding platform.
To make sure these blocks of information are understandable for your team, SC training uses gamification. Bullet points and lists of scaffolding lessons become word search puzzles, true or false tests, and memory games for your team to engage with. About 72% of employees have said that these activities motivate them to work harder at training.
Created by: SC Training
Length: 5-10 minutes per lesson (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: Free (up to 10 users)
This updated course in SC Training (formerly EdApp) was reviewed by the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP). Designed for refresher training as required by OSHA or your company, it’s best suited for U.S. construction workers who need retraining for their scaffolding work.
This OSHA scaffolding training course goes over all kinds of scaffolds, common hazards, and approved safety standards under OSHA Standard 1926.451. For example, it discusses the specific clearance standards for scaffolds. These are the minimum distances a scaffold should be away from power lines and other electrical hazards.
You can check whether your team understood the training through SC Training’s Practical Assessment feature. Create an assessment and easily deliver it through a QR code or a link. Monitor their progress, pass and fail trainees, and receive feedback to make sure your training is making the right impact.
Created by: SC Training
Length: 5-10 minutes per lesson (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: Free (up to 10 users)
For Australian construction workers, SC Training has the perfect scaffold course. Mobile Scaffold Safety (AU) was made by the Working at Height Association. It discusses all the know-how needed for safe scaffolding as stated by Safework Australia.
The course goes over the important safety standards when it comes to mobile scaffolds. These are scaffolds with wheels that are best used for painting, cleaning, and other maintenance jobs. It also talks about how to assemble and take apart mobile scaffolds, how to safely use them, and how to move them around.
You can deliver this course to dozens of team members with the Group Training feature. It’s an all-in-one tool that can present courses, track attendance, and review previous training sessions. With this tool, you can easily track how your team is receiving the training and what else they should improve on.
Created by: SC Training
Length: 5-10 minutes per lesson (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: Free (up to 10 users)
The National OSHA Foundation offers a scaffolding certification course that’s great for compliance training. It covers all the OSHA standards for scaffolding set-up, inspection, safety practices, and how to avoid common hazards. Your team will receive a printable and online certificate after finishing a final quiz with a score of 70% or higher.
Created by: National OSHA Foundation
Length: 1 hour (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: Contact for pricing
This course by 360 Training explores the OSHA standards on scaffolding safety. It’s designed to certify the learner in everything listed in OSHA Regulations 1926 Subpart L. It also discusses how to identify and use guardrails and personal fall arrest systems. Learners can take the course online and have the option to use the English or Spanish version.
Created by: OSHA Campus by 360 Training
Length: 1 hour (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: 20 USD
This OSHA-aligned course from HAZPOWER OSHA goes through all the procedures an employee needs for scaffolding. That includes inspecting, constructing, moving, and maintaining scaffolding for daily operations. It also discusses the specific OSHA standards for load capacity and clearances. This course is online and has a final exam.
Created by: HAZPOWER OSHA
Length: 2 hours (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: Plans start at 29.99 per student
ClickSafety’s course introduces your team to the scaffolds they may use at work. These are categorized as supported, rolling, suspending, and ladder jack scaffolds. Your team can expect to learn the specific requirements and associated hazards of scaffolds. They’ll also understand the role of a competent person on a worksite that uses scaffolding.
Created by: ClickSafety
Length: 10 minutes
Certificate: Available
Cost: 30 USD
This scaffolding course comes from Hard Hat Training. It meets OSHA Standards 1926.450, 1926.451, and 1926.452 for scaffolding safety. The practices in these standards will make your team OSHA-compliant and safe. While this course has a written exam, it's filled with practice quiz questions to help your team practice their new learnings.
Created by: Hard Hat Training
Length: 60-90 minutes
Certificate: Available
Cost: 40 USD
The scaffolding training by Compliance Training Online is for everyone who needs scaffolding for their construction work. It has comprehensive coverage of everything they need to know about scaffolding safety, like fall protection, safe access to scaffolds, and all the specific safety requirements for scaffolds. This course is self-paced and can be taken online at any time.
Created by: Compliance Training Online
Length: 6 hours (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: Plans start at 59.95 USD
Falling is one of the most common accidents that can happen on scaffolding. This course by SC Training can help you create a safer scaffolding site by focusing on fall prevention. Aside from scaffolding safety, it covers fall safety, ladder protection, and roofing safety. This course has a final assessment but has gamified questions and activities in the lessons.
You can find other courses for your scaffolding training program in SC Training’s expansive Course Library. Boost your team’s skillset and safety attitudes by accessing over 1,000 editable courses. For example, you can also complement this course with hard hat training to protect your team from falling objects or obstacles.
Created by: SC Training
Length: 5-10 minutes per lesson (self-paced)
Certificate: Available
Cost: Free (up to 10 users)
Scaffolding is a must for any work in a tall building, but it's dangerous without any safety precautions. Common hazards include falling, getting hit by falling objects, exposure to electricity, weather conditions, and the collapse of a scaffold. When working at any height, the entire team must know how to stay safe and secure to avoid any accidents.
For Fiscal Year 2022, OSHA reported that fall protection for construction and scaffolding for construction were first and fourth in the list of the top 10 most frequently violated standards, respectively. While these violations result in big fines and penalties for your company, they also mean your team is vulnerable to life-threatening accidents.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics has reported that about 423 fatalities in construction in 2022 were due to falls, slips, and trips. About 80% of these fatalities happened due to falls to lower levels. To prevent these accidents from happening, your team must be aware of the best safety practices and know-how about scaffolding through training.
A scaffolding course is a lesson plan about everything a construction worker needs to know about scaffolding. As a temporary structure, your team must know how to inspect, construct, access, and disassemble it for a safe scaffolding operation. This can be done through face-to-face demonstrations or online scaffolder training courses.
A scaffolding course may differ from one another because your company may use multiple kinds of scaffolds. For example, for painting and plastering jobs, your team may need a mobile scaffold course to cover all the specifics. Usually, a scaffolding course has a lesson about all kinds of scaffolds and their safety requirements.
Scaffolding training increases the overall safety of your construction team. As your team reviews the most up-to-date safety standards and practices, the risk of accidents and injuries will decrease. It will make sure your daily operations run smoothly and increase the amount of competent persons you have on your team.
Some labor organizations may require scaffolding training for retraining. For example, OSHA requires that an employer retrain an employee if there’s a new hazard, there are changes in the scaffolds being used, or if the employee’s performance is unsatisfactory.
Scaffolding is the best structure for working with heights. To keep your team safe at high elevations, they should know how to secure themselves with guardrails, use access points, wear personal protective equipment, and inspect the scaffolding for hazards.
Use SC Training to make your scaffolding training programs engaging and interactive. This powerful tool can upskill, retrain, and onboard your team in a few clicks. Sign up now to keep your scaffolding worksites safe.