Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents
• Standard Number: 1926.454

August 5, 1997

Mr. Patrick J. Sweeney, Director of Jurisdiction
Carpenters' District Council of Greater Saint Louis, AFL-CIO
Carpenters' Building
1401 Hampton Avenue
Third Floor
Saint Louis, MO 63139-3199

Dear Mr. Sweeney:

This is in response to your letter of May 27, 1997 to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) in which you requested "a letter of determination of the new scaffold mandate in 29 CFR 1926.454(b) that states who the competent person will be determined by". Such determination is the responsibility of the employer. Please see page 21 of the enclosed OSHA Instruction CPL 2-1.23 for further guidance.

With respect to your second concern that "All persons working on erecting, dissembling, moving, repairing, maintaining, or inspecting must be trained through a certified scaffold program," please note that section .454 requires that "the employer shall have each employee who is involved... trained by a competent person to recognize any hazards associated with the work in question." The section does not require that the training must be through a certified scaffold program (see enclosed 1926.454 Training requirements).

If you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us again by writing to:

Director of Construction-OSHA
Office of Construction Standards and
Compliance Assistance, Rm. N3621
200 Constitution Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20210

Sincerely,

Roy F. Gurnham, P.E., J.D.

Director
Office of Construction Standards and
Compliance Assistance

Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents Standard Interpretations - Table of Contents