courses, or courses intended to teach groups or individuals how to assemble and
use
scaffolding, can be essential to
those working with the equipment for the first time. Choosing the best course is
important because
scaffolding can be difficult and even dangerous
to use without proper training. It is important to ensure that the
scaffolding courses one chooses involve the
same general type of
scaffolds that one will be using. It is also
important to ensure that the course includes sections on both setup and use.
Cost is another important part of choosing the best course, especially for
employers who need to enroll many employees in the same course.

One of the simplest options for
scaffolding training simply involves on-the-job
training instead of formal
scaffolding courses. This method confers no
additional cost and, in most cases, little additional time. People without
sufficient
scaffolding training may, however, be a danger
to themselves, to others, and to the project at hand. On-the-job training
generally focuses primarily on the job, not on the training, so trainees may not
receive sufficient instruction. Additionally, most on-the-job training does not
result in any certification that people can use to demonstrate their competence
with the setup and use of
scaffolds in future jobs.
Formal
scaffolding courses, though they are more
time-consuming and expensive, tend to result in much more thorough and complete
knowledge and understanding of
scaffolding setup and use. Furthermore, such
courses often provide certification that workers can show future employers to
demonstrate that they are competent in the use of the equipment. By conducting
training in a controlled environment, employers and instructors remove the risk
of damaging current projects and reduce the risk of harming workers. All of the
practice is supervised, so instructors of such
scaffolding courses can stop or correct poor
scaffolding use before it becomes dangerous.
There are a variety of disadvantages associated with formal courses. They may
take many hours or days, during which time a worker cannot be doing any
productive work. In many cases, the employer pays for workers to take the
course, so money is lost on the course itself and on the sacrifice of work time.
This can be particularly frustrating when the course is just a formality to get
certification for a worker who already knows how to safely use
scaffolding. It is important, then, to find
scaffolding courses that balance the need for
information and training with time and monetary concerns.
http://www.shscaffolding.com/