Supported Scaffolds
Supported scaffolds consist of one or more platforms supported by outrigger beams, brackets, poles, legs, uprights, posts, frames, or similar rigid support.
If you work on a supported scaffold more than 10 feet above a lower level, you must be protected from falling.
Guardrails are appropriate for most scaffold platforms. If you can't use a guardrail system, then you must use personal fall-arrest systems or restraint systems.
Supported Scaffold Types
Of the many types of supported scaffolds, fabricated/frame scaffolds are the most common. Like portable ladders, they're versatile, economical, and easy to use. You'll see them on construction sites as single supported platforms and multiple platforms stacked several stories high on modular frames.
Frame Scaffold or Fabricated Frame. Platform(s) supported on fabricated end frames with integral posts, horizontal bearers, and intermediate members.
Tube/Coupler. Platform(s) supported by tubing, erected with coupling devices connecting uprights, braces, bearers, and runners.
Pole or Wood Scaffold. Posts with fixed connection points that accept runners, bearers, and diagonals, also made of wood, that can be interconnected at predetermined levels.
Mast Climber. Mast climbing supported scaffolds (Mast Climbers) carry much heavier loads than traditional scaffolding and serve to position personnel, along with necessary tools, equipment, and materials to perform work at great heights. Click to enlarge image. Three construction employees were killed when the left mast's platform on the left side collapsed at a project under construction.
Ladder Jack Scaffold. A ladder jack scaffold is a simple device consisting of a platform resting on brackets attached to a ladder. Ladder jacks are primarily used on lighter loads because of their portability and cost-effectiveness.
Mobile (Manually or Propelled). Unpowered, portable, caster- or wheel-mounted supported scaffold. Mobile scaffolds typically have a lightweight and modular design, making them portable and quick to assemble and disassemble.
Specialty Scaffold. Scaffold types designed for a narrow and very specific range of applications. Other specialty scaffolds include:
- Plasterers', Decorators', and Large-Area Scaffolds
- Bricklayers' Square Scaffolds
- Horse Scaffolds
- Form Scaffolds and Carpenters' Bracket Scaffolds
- Outrigger Scaffolds
- Window Jack Scaffolds
- Crawling Boards (Chicken Ladders)
- Step, Platform, and Trestle Ladder Scaffolds
- Stilts
Pump Jack Scaffold. Platform supported by vertical poles and movable support brackets. It is also known as a pump jack system or pump jack staging, is a type of scaffolding commonly used in construction, painting, and maintenance work.
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4-3. At what height on a supported scaffold must fall protection be provided?
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