In China, the major material used to build scaffolding for buildings is, believe it or not, bamboo.  I have seen it used on buildings over twenty stories high, and making bamboo scaffolding is an art.  However, recently, I saw scaffolding that had ripped away from a building of about 10 stories and had, not only fallen on the buildings, in front of it, but also created havoc on the street, which was blocked off by police for half a block, and about ten police cars had shown up.