803 Scaffold Safety Program Management

Responsibilities

It's important to understand who is responsible for safety on the construction worksite. According to OSHA, there are four employer roles or categories on a multi-employer worksite.

1. Creating employer: The employer who caused a hazardous condition that violates an OSHA standard. An example would be a contractor who erects a defective scaffold.
2. Exposing employer: This is an employer whose own employees are exposed to the hazard. An example would be an employer who allows his own employees to work on a scaffold without proper guardrails.
3. Correcting employer: This is an employer who is engaged in a common undertaking, on the same worksite as the exposing employer, and is responsible for controlling or otherwise eliminating a hazard. This usually occurs when an employer is given the responsibility of installing and/or maintaining particular safety/health equipment or devices such as scaffolds.
4. Controlling employer: This is an employer who has general supervisory authority over the worksite, including the power to correct safety and health violations itself or require others to correct them. Control can be established by contract or, in the absence of explicit contractual provisions, by the exercise of control in practice. An example would be the general contractor who has control over the erection of scaffolds on the worksite.

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