Education · 1 of 4
The path
Learn on the job, with short training levels run by unions and employers.
- 1
High school diploma
Grade 12
Grade 12 is enough. Fitness and a clean drug test matter more than marks on industrial sites.
- 2
Safety tickets
Days
Fall protection or working at heights, plus WHMIS (workplace hazardous materials training). One or two days.
- 3
Get hired as a helper
Weeks to months
Scaffold companies and union hiring halls take on labourers. You carry and sort parts, then start building under a lead hand.
- 4
Log hours and pass levels
About 3 years
In the Alberta Carpenters program you need 750 documented scaffold hours before Level One school and about 1,500 hours a year after that, over a three-year program.
- 5
Journeyperson scaffolder
After your hours
A union or employer journeyperson card. It is recognized on union sites across Canada, though it is not a provincial licence.