Scaffold Inspection Checklist
1926.451(f)(3) requires a competent person to inspect scaffolds and scaffold components for visible defects before each work shift, and after any occurrence which could affect structural integrity. Print this, walk it, sign it, hang it on the tag.
Subpart L requires this before each work shift and after anything that could affect structural integrity \u2014 1926.451(f)(3). Sign and date it; an unsigned tag is not an inspection.
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Before each work shift, not weekly
The interval is the part people get wrong. 1926.451(f)(3) says before each work shift, and again after any occurrence which could affect the scaffold's structural integrity — a vehicle strike, a wind event, a component swap, a load nobody planned for.
1926.451(f)(4) then sets what happens when something is found: any damaged or weakened part shall be immediately repaired, replaced, braced to meet the requirement, or removed from service.
Who is allowed to do it
A competent person, defined at 1926.32(f) as someone capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards and who has authorisation to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. If your designated inspector has to phone the office to take a scaffold out of service, the designation does not meet the definition. More in competent person under OSHA.
Notice
The capacity line
1926.451(a)(1): each scaffold and scaffold component shall support, without failure, its own weight and at least 4 times the maximum intended load. That means the working load you may place on a platform is a quarter of the number stamped on it, and a stack of block delivered onto a bay is a load nobody calculated.
Full detail in scaffold safety requirements.