Have you ever walked by (or under) a scaffolding outside a building and wondered who built that and how? Maybe not; maybe you passed by it and didn’t even give it a second thought. So it might be surprising to learn that there are actually a shortage of industrial scaffold builders, particularly in Texas and the Gulf Coast Region.

Texas Southmost College (TSC) has a solution to that problem. The college recently announced the development of the Industrial Scaffolding Committee Basic Access program—an 80-hour, fast-track program to prepare students for the Industrial Scaffolding Committee certification.

The college works closely with Workforce Solutions (WFS) Cameron—an area workforce development board—and with business and industry to identify the workforce needs in the region. “Through this collaboration, a need for industrial scaffold builders was identified. TSC responded by developing a program to fill that need,” TSC President Jesús Roberto Rodríguez said.

“The industrial scaffolding industry is a large industry,” Brian Wedemeyer of Partner Industrial, a TSC partner, said in a release. “It supports petrochemical, chemical, power generation, paper and pulp, basically any large industrial facility is going to require industrial scaffolding.”

Students in the program will learn to identify, inspect, erect, dismantle, rack and stack the most common industrial scaffolding systems. And those who pass the certification test have an excellent chance at gaining entry into the industry at an average salary of $15 per hour.

Besides collaborating with Partner Industrial, TSC is partnering with WFS Cameron, Excel Modular Scaffolding, Brock Service Group and BrandSafway.

“We worked with the college to get the equipment, we helped get the instructor, we provide the assessor, and we make sure the students have somewhere to land once they are done with training,” Wedemeyer said.

The program’s first two-week session begins July 30 and will cost participants $695. Maximum enrollment is 16 students per session.