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News Release USDL: 96-513
Thursday, December 12, 1996
Contact: Frank Kane, (202) 219-6441

Labor, business and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) are launching a national cooperative program to train workers to work safely under OSHA's new scaffolds in construction standards.

The new Scaffold Training Partnership is sponsored by the OSHA Training Institute in Des Plaines, Ill., in coordination with the OSHA Directorate of Construction, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) National Apprenticeship and Training Fund, and the UBC Health and Safety Fund, both union-management organizations associated with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. Commonwealth Edison, a large Chicago-based electric utility, is joining the partnership as the first industry partner.

"The partnership offers a unique opportunity for business, labor, and government to work together to achieve the goals of all stakeholders affected by the new scaffold standards," said Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health Joseph A. Dear, who administers OSHA. "It is a 'win-win-win' situation for all concerned, especially American workers."

Staff from the OSHA Training Institute and the two Carpenters funds worked closely together in developing a training program designed to meet the requirements of the standards, which were issued Aug. 30, 1996. The scaffolding standards are expected to prevent about 4,500 injuries and 50 deaths each year among the 2.3 million U.S. construction workers who work on scaffolds frequently.

The course will use a train-the-trainer approach. Locally based instructors -- most of whom are from the Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committees affiliated with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters -- will participate in a week-long trainer-preparation course. The first three courses will be conducted by master instructors from the UBC and the OSHA Training Institute. The local instructors, in turn, will teach the course developed through the partnership to workers who will be engaged in construction, disassembling, moving, operating, maintenance, repair, or inspection of scaffolds.

Commonwealth Edison, as an industry partner, helped develop the partnership training program. The company's focus was on the application of scaffold safety training in an operating facility.

The first instructor preparation course will be held Dec.16-20 in Elk Grove, Ill.

Instructors who qualify through the partnership instructor preparation course will also be able to teach a one-day Scaffold Users Course developed jointly by the Carpenters and the OSHA Training Institute to meet separate training requirements for workers who stand on scaffolds to perform other construction work.