803 Scaffold Safety Program Management

Assigning Competent and Qualified Personnel

Employers should select scaffold workers based on their knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to perform work including scaffold selection, erection, use, movement, alteration, dismantling, maintenance and inspection. Only trained employees who demonstrate adequate KSAs should be considered qualified to work on scaffolding.

Competent Person

A Competent Person is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authority to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. The competent person, who has primary responsibility for supervising and directing all scaffolding erection, dismantling, and altering work, should:

• have training and knowledge of OSHA requirements applicable to the types of scaffolds used;
• identify and correct existing and predictable hazards encountered in scaffold work;
• be trained in the structural integrity of the types of scaffolds used; and
• have authority from the employer to promptly abate hazardous worksite conditions.

It's important to know that successful completion of a course does not, alone, necessarily establish an individual as a "competent person" for a number of reasons:

• by its terms, the definition of a "competent person" compels the employer to select an employee based upon his or her capability to identify hazards;
• the definition of a competent person requires the individual to have the authority to take prompt corrective action. No course can provide that authority, since it can only be provided by the employer;
• a course may not be sufficiently comprehensive with respect to the information needed to meet the knowledge requirement in the definition. The type and extent of the knowledge will vary with what is necessary to successfully perform the task required of the competent person in the standard; and
• the course may not adequately test the employee's understanding of the course material.

Note: OSHA compliance officers will determine the identity of the competent persons and assess their training and experience qualifications at an early stage of any inspection.

We'll take a look at the duties of a competent person in the next tab.

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.