Book excerpt: Scaffolding is used in many industries every day, all over the world, in the construction industry; for commercial and industrial maintenance; the staging and entertainment markets; the shipbuilding industry; mining; industrial plants, including power plants; hydro and nuclear power facilities; pulp and paper plants; petrochemical plants; oil refineries; and offshore drilling rigs. This book serves as a guide to any person involved with scaffolding in any way so that they will have a training and reference book that they can refer to for both scaffolding product knowledge and for estimating. The first ten chapters of this book include historical data and background information including product knowledge on all types of built-up scaffolding, suspended cradles, and swingstages. The eleventh chapter of this book is dedicated to the procedures that are used for estimating; preparing proposals, bids, and contracts, including systematic instructions on how to calculate the formulas that are most commonly used for estimating materials and labour outputs for scaffolding. Additionally, there are several sections of this book dedicated to temporary enclosures, built-up shoring and falsework, as well as manual and motorized suspended swingstages and cradles. There are very few books available on these topics. To my knowledge there are none dedicated to product knowledge and the estimating of built-up scaffolding systems. No book can be all-inclusive, and this handbook does not claim to be. Much time and research has been put into this book to ensure that as many of the proven estimating methods and design concepts for all types of built-up and suspended scaffolding have been covered. Since one of our greatest assets in any business are our employees, the proper training of all craft and support staff within an industry is of primary importance. Additionally, the continuity in the training given to staff should always be kept up to a measurable standard and continually maintained to an acceptable level.