🎖️ Day 3 – Routes into Scaffolding: From the Forces to the Framework

As part of National Scaffolding Week 2025, we’re recognising the incredible contribution that armed forces veterans make to our industry, and celebrating the values, discipline, and teamwork they bring to every role.

Leaving military life can be a big step, but the skills developed through service, leadership, precision, calm under pressure, and a commitment to safety, make veterans a natural fit for scaffolding.

👷Scaffolding Association member Ian Pickard, Managing Director of IDP Safety Services and former Warrant Officer Class 2 and Battery Sergeant Major, explains it best:
“The Army trains its people to the highest standards. You learn discipline, teamwork and problem-solving, but also how to lead, how to stay calm under pressure, and how to deliver results. Those are skills you carry with you for life. I wouldn’t be doing the job I do now without that experience.”

🪖 Veterans bring reliability, adaptability and leadership from day one, qualities our industry needs now more than ever.

✍️ That’s why the Scaffolding Association is proud to have signed the Armed Forces Covenant, reinforcing our commitment to supporting veterans, reservists and their families across the scaffolding community.

💬 “We need to tap into these skill sets and use them to strengthen our industry,” Ian adds. “Veterans are ready to contribute — we just need to give them the opportunity.”

🎖️ From service to scaffolding, the skills, standards and spirit remain the same.