In a series of letters released between March 29 and April 5, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued interpretations of rules regulating scaffolding and personal fall protection.
In an April 5 letter, OSHA offered clarification on the performance requirements for canopy structures, debris nets and catch platforms as discussed in the scaffolding standard. According to OSHA’s interpretation, each employee working on scaffolding must be protected from falling objects by wearing hardhats in addition to being offered protection in the form of toeboards, screens, guardrail systems, debris nets, catch platforms or canopy structures. OSHA also stated that if the falling objects were too large or heavy to be stopped by any of the specified protective systems, those objects must be placed away from the edge and must be secured in place.
OSHA also offered a description of when the space between scaffold planks and uprights could be greater than 1 inch. OSHA wrote that the space between planks can only exceed the 1 inch limit required in the standard when the employer can demonstrate that the wider space was necessary, such as when the plank needed to fit around uprights. In addition, OSHA noted that the space between planks cannot exceed 9½ inches at any time regardless of circumstance.
In other interpretations, OSHA stated that double wrap #9 gage steel wire is acceptable to guy, tie or brace a scaffold and that toeboards are required any time there is danger of objects such as tools or equipment falling off a scaffold, even if that toeboard is placed at the scaffold access point.
To read all of OSHA’s letters of interpretation from the last 30 days,
visit the OSHA website.