29 CFR Part 1926, Subpart Q

§ 1926.700

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–06 Edition)

Subpart Q—Concrete and
Masonry Construction
AUTHORITY: Sec. 107, Contract Work Hours
and Safety Standards Act (Construction
Safety Act) (40 U.S.C. 333); Secs. 4, 6 and 8
Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970
(29 U.S.C. 653, 655, and 657); Secretary of Labor’s Order No. 12–71 (36 FR 8754), 8–76 (41 FR
25059), 9–83 (48 FR 35736), or 1–90 (55 FR 9033),
as applicable; and 29 CFR part 1911.
SOURCE: 53 FR 22643, June 16, 1988, unless
otherwise noted.

§ 1926.700 Scope, application, and definitions applicable to this subpart.
(a) Scope and application. This subpart sets forth requirements to protect
all construction employees from the
hazards associated with concrete and
masonry construction operations performed in workplaces covered under 29
CFR part 1926. In addition to the requirements in subpart Q, other relevant provisions in parts 1910 and 1926
apply to concrete and masonry construction operations.
(b) Definitions applicable to this subpart. In addition to the definitions set
forth in § 1926.32, the following definitions apply to this subpart.
(1) Bull float means a tool used to
spread out and smooth concrete.
(2) Formwork means the total system
of support for freshly placed or partially cured concrete, including the
mold or sheeting (form) that is in contact with the concrete as well as all
supporting members including shores,
reshores, hardware, braces, and related
hardware.
(3) Lift slab means a method of concrete construction in which floor, and
roof slabs are cast on or at ground level
and, using jacks, lifted into position.
(4) Limited access zone means an area
alongside a masonry wall, which is
under construction, and which is clearly demarcated to limit access by employees.
(5) Precast concrete means concrete
members (such as walls, panels, slabs,
columns, and beams) which have been
formed, cast, and cured prior to final
placement in a structure.
(6) Reshoring means the construction
operation in which shoring equipment
(also called reshores or reshoring
equipment) is placed, as the original

forms and shores are removed, in order
to support partially cured concrete and
construction loads.
(7) Shore means a supporting member
that resists a compressive force imposed by a load.
(8) Vertical slip forms means forms
which are jacked vertically during the
placement of concrete.
(9) Jacking operation means the task
of lifting a slab (or group of slabs)
vertically from one location to another
(e.g., from the casting location to a
temporary (parked) location, or from a
temporary location to another temporary location, or to its final location
in the structure), during the construction of a building/structure where the
lift-slab process is being used.
[53 FR 22643, June 16, 1988, as amended at 55
FR 42328, Oct. 18, 1990]

§ 1926.701 General requirements.
(a) Construction loads. No construction loads shall be placed on a concrete
structure or portion of a concrete
structure unless the employer determines, based on information received
from a person who is qualified in structural design, that the structure or portion of the structure is capable of supporting the loads.
(b) Reinforcing steel. All protruding
reinforcing steel, onto and into which
employees could fall, shall be guarded
to eliminate the hazard of impalement.
(c) Post-tensioning operations. (1) No
employee (except those essential to the
post-tensioning operations) shall be
permitted to be behind the jack during
tensioning operations.
(2) Signs and barriers shall be erected
to limit employee access to the posttensioning area during tensioning operations.
(d) Riding concrete buckets. No employee shall be permitted to ride concrete buckets.
(e) Working under loads. (1) No employee shall be permitted to work
under concrete buckets while buckets
are being elevated or lowered into position.
(2) To the extent practical, elevated
concrete buckets shall be routed so
that no employee, or the fewest number of employees, are exposed to the
hazards associated with falling concrete buckets.

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor
(f) Personal protective equipment. No
employee shall be permitted to apply a
cement, sand, and water mixture
through a pneumatic hose unless the
employee is wearing protective head
and face equipment.
[53 FR 22643, June 16, 1988, as amended at 59
FR 40730, Aug. 9, 1994]

§ 1926.702 Requirements for equipment and tools.
(a) Bulk cement storage. (1) Bulk storage bins, containers, and silos shall be
equipped with the following:
(i) Conical or tapered bottoms; and
(ii) Mechanical or pneumatic means
of starting the flow of material.
(2) No employee shall be permitted to
enter storage facilities unless the ejection system has been shut down, locked
out, and tagged to indicate that the
ejection system is not to be operated.
(b) Concrete mixers. Concrete mixers
with one cubic yard (.8 m3) or larger
loading skips shall be equipped with
the following:
(1) A mechanical device to clear the
skip of materials; and
(2) Guardrails installed on each side
of the skip.
(c) Power concrete trowels. Powered
and rotating type concrete troweling
machines that are manually guided
shall be equipped with a control switch
that will automatically shut off the
power whenever the hands of the operator are removed from the equipment
handles.
(d) Concrete buggies. Concrete buggy
handles shall not extend beyond the
wheels on either side of the buggy.
(e) Concrete pumping systems. (1) Concrete pumping systems using discharge
pipes shall be provided with pipe supports designed for 100 percent overload.
(2) Compressed air hoses used on concrete pumping system shall be provided
with positive fail-safe joint connectors
to prevent separation of sections when
pressurized.
(f) Concrete buckets. (1) Concrete
buckets equipped with hydraulic or
pneumatic gates shall have positive
safety latches or similar safety devices
installed to prevent premature or accidental dumping.
(2) Concrete buckets shall be designed to prevent concrete from hanging up on top and the sides.

§ 1926.703

(g) Tremies. Sections of tremies and
similar concrete conveyances shall be
secured with wire rope (or equivalent
materials) in addition to the regular
couplings or connections.
(h) Bull floats. Bull float handles,
used where they might contact energized electrical conductors, shall be
constructed of nonconductive material
or insulated with a nonconductive
sheath whose electrical and mechanical characteristics provide the equivalent protection of a handle constructed
of nonconductive material.
(i) Masonry saws. (1) Masonry saws
shall be guarded with a semicircular
enclosure over the blade.
(2) A method for retaining blade fragments shall be incorporated in the design of the semicircular enclosure.
(j) Lockout/Tagout Procedures. (1) No
employee shall be permitted to perform
maintenance or repair activity on
equipment (such as compressors, mixers, screens or pumps used for concrete
and masonry construction activities)
where the inadvertent operation of the
equipment could occur and cause injury, unless all potentially hazardous
energy sources have been locked out
and tagged.
(2) Tags shall read Do Not Start or
similar language to indicate that the
equipment is not to be operated.
§ 1926.703 Requirements
place concrete.

for

(a) General requirements for formwork.
(1) Formwork shall be designed, fabricated, erected, supported, braced and
maintained so that it will be capable of
supporting without failure all vertical
and lateral loads that may reasonably
be anticipated to be applied to the
formwork. Formwork which is designed, fabricated, erected, supported,
braced and maintained in conformance
with the Appendix to this section will
be deemed to meet the requirements of
this paragraph.
(2) Drawings or plans, including all
revisions,
for
the
jack
layout,
formwork (including shoring equipment), working decks, and scaffolds,
shall be available at the jobsite.
(b) Shoring and reshoring. (1) All shoring equipment (including equipment
used in reshoring operations) shall be

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§ 1926.703

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–06 Edition)

inspected prior to erection to determine that the equipment meets the requirements specified in the formwork
drawings.
(2) Shoring equipment found to be
damaged such that its strength is reduced to less than that required by
§ 1926.703(a)(1) shall not be used for
shoring.
(3) Erected shoring equipment shall
be inspected immediately prior to, during, and immediately after concrete
placement.
(4) Shoring equipment that is found
to be damaged or weakened after erection, such that its strength is reduced
to
less
than
that
required
by
§ 1926.703(a)(1), shall be immediately reinforced.
(5) The sills for shoring shall be
sound, rigid, and capable of carrying
the maximum intended load.
(6) All base plates, shore heads, extension devices, and adjustment screws
shall be in firm contact, and secured
when necessary, with the foundation
and the form.
(7) Eccentric loads on shore heads
and similar members shall be prohibited unless these members have been
designed for such loading.
(8) Whenever single post shores are
used one on top of another (tiered), the
employer shall comply with the following specific requirements in addition to the general requirements for
formwork:
(i) The design of the shoring shall be
prepared by a qualified designer and
the erected shoring shall be inspected
by an engineer qualified in structural
design.
(ii) The single post shores shall be
vertically aligned.
(iii) The single post shores shall be
spliced to prevent misalignment.
(iv) The single post shores shall be
adequately braced in two mutually perpendicular directions at the splice
level. Each tier shall also be diagonally
braced in the same two directions.
(9) Adjustment of single post shores
to raise formwork shall not be made
after the placement of concrete.
(10) Reshoring shall be erected, as the
original forms and shores are removed,
whenever the concrete is required to
support loads in excess of its capacity.

(c) Vertical slip forms. (1) The steel
rods or pipes on which jacks climb or
by which the forms are lifted shall be—
(i) Specifically designed for that purpose; and
(ii) Adequately braced where not encased in concrete.
(2) Forms shall be designed to prevent excessive distortion of the structure during the jacking operation.
(3) All vertical slip forms shall be
provided with scaffolds or work platforms where employees are required to
work or pass.
(4) Jacks and vertical supports shall
be positioned in such a manner that
the loads do not exceed the rated capacity of the jacks.
(5) The jacks or other lifting devices
shall be provided with mechanical dogs
or other automatic holding devices to
support the slip forms whenever failure
of the power supply or lifting mechanism occurs.
(6) The form structure shall be maintained within all design tolerances
specified for plumbness during the
jacking operation.
(7) The predetermined safe rate of lift
shall not be exceeded.
(d) Reinforcing steel. (1) Reinforcing
steel for walls, piers, columns, and
similar vertical structures shall be
adequately supported to prevent overturning and to prevent collapse.
(2) Employers shall take measures to
prevent unrolled wire mesh from recoiling. Such measures may include,
but are not limited to, securing each
end of the roll or turning over the roll.
(e) Removal of formwork. (1) Forms
and shores (except those used for slabs
on grade and slip forms) shall not be
removed until the employer determines
that the concrete has gained sufficient
strength to support its weight and superimposed loads. Such determination
shall be based on compliance with one
of the following:
(i) The plans and specifications stipulate conditions for removal of forms
and shores, and such conditions have
been followed, or
(ii) The concrete has been properly
tested with an appropriate ASTM
standard test method designed to indicate
the
concrete
compressive
strength, and the test results indicate
that the concrete has gained sufficient

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor
strength to support its weight and superimposed loads.
(2) Reshoring shall not be removed
until the concrete being supported has
attained adequate strength to support
its weight and all loads in place upon
it.
APPENDIX TO § 1926.703(a)(1)
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR FORMWORK
(This Appendix is non-mandatory.)
This appendix serves as a non-mandatory
guideline to assist employers in complying
with
the
formwork
requirements
in
§ 1926.703(a)(1). Formwork which has been designed, fabricated, erected, braced, supported
and maintained in accordance with Sections
6 and 7 of the American National Standard
for Construction and Demolition Operations—Concrete and Masonry Work, ANSI
A10.9–1983, shall be deemed to be in compliance with the provision of § 1926.703(a)(1).
[53 FR 22643, June 16, 1988, as amended at 61
FR 5510, Feb. 13, 1996]

§ 1926.704 Requirements
concrete.

for

precast

(a) Precast concrete wall units,
structural framing, and tilt-up wall
panels shall be adequately supported to
prevent overturning and to prevent collapse until permanent connections are
completed.
(b) Lifting inserts which are embedded or otherwise attached to tilt-up
precast concrete members shall be capable of supporting at least two times
the maximum intended load applied or
transmitted to them.
(c) Lifting inserts which are embedded or otherwise attached to precast
concrete members, other than the tiltup members, shall be capable of supporting at least four times the maximum intended load applied or transmitted to them.
(d) Lifting hardware shall be capable
of supporting at least five times the
maximum intended load applied or
transmitted to the lifting hardware.
(e) No employee shall be permitted
under precast concrete members being
lifted or tilted into position except
those employees required for the erection of those members.
[53 FR 22643, June 16, 1988, as amended at 54
FR 41088, Oct. 5, 1989]

§ 1926.705

§ 1926.705 Requirements for lift-slab
construction operations.
(a) Lift-slab operations shall be designed and planned by a registered professional engineer who has experience
in lift-slab construction. Such plans
and designs shall be implemented by
the employer and shall include detailed
instructions and sketches indicating
the prescribed method of erection.
These plans and designs shall also include provisions for ensuring lateral
stability of the building/structure during construction.
(b) Jacks/lifting units shall be
marked to indicate their rated capacity as established by the manufacturer.
(c) Jacks/lifting units shall not be
loaded beyond their rated capacity as
established by the manufacturer.
(d) Jacking equipment shall be capable of supporting at least two and onehalf times the load being lifted during
jacking operations and the equipment
shall not be overloaded. For the purpose of this provision, jacking equipment includes any load bearing component which is used to carry out the lifting operation(s). Such equipment includes, but is not limited, to the following: threaded rods, lifting attachments, lifting nuts, hook-up collars, Tcaps, shearheads, columns, and footings.
(e) Jacks/lifting units shall be designed and installed so that they will
neither lift nor continue to lift when
they are loaded in excess of their rated
capacity.
(f) Jacks/lifting units shall have a
safety device installed which will cause
the jacks/lifting units to support the
load in any position in the event any
jack/lifting unit malfunctions or loses
its lifting ability.
(g) Jacking operations shall be synchronized in such a manner to ensure
even and uniform lifting of the slab.
During lifting, all points at which the
slab is supported shall be kept within 1/
2 inch of that needed to maintain the
slab in a level position.
(h) If leveling is automatically controlled, a device shall be installed that
will stop the operation when the 1⁄2inch
tolerance set forth in paragraph (g) of
this section is exceeded or where there
is a malfunction in the jacking (lifting)
system.

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§ 1926.705

29 CFR Ch. XVII (7–1–06 Edition)

(i) If leveling is maintained by manual controls, such controls shall be located in a central location and attended by a competent person while
lifting is in progress. In addition to
meeting the definition in § 1926.32(f),
the competent person must be experienced in the lifting operation and with
the lifting equipment being used.
(j) The maximum number of manually controlled jacks/lifting units on
one slab shall be limited to a number
that will permit the operator to maintain the slab level within specified tolerances of paragraph (g) of this section,
but in no case shall that number exceed 14.
(k)(1) No employee, except those essential to the jacking operation, shall
be permitted in the building/structure
while any jacking operation is taking
place unless the building/structure has
been reinforced sufficiently to ensure
its integrity during erection. The
phrase ‘‘reinforced sufficiently to ensure its integrity’’ used in this paragraph means that a registered professional engineer, independent of the engineer who designed and planned the
lifting operation, has determined from
the plans that if there is a loss of support at any jack location, that loss will
be confined to that location and the
structure as a whole will remain stable.
(2) Under no circumstances, shall any
employee who is not essential to the
jacking operation be permitted immediately beneath a slab while it is being
lifted.
(3) For the purpose of paragraph (k)
of this section, a jacking operation begins when a slab or group of slabs is
lifted and ends when such slabs are secured (with either temporary connections or permanent connections).
(4) Employers who comply with appendix A to § 1926.705 shall be considered to be in compliance with the provisions of paragraphs (k)(1) through
(k)(3) of this section.
(l) When making temporary connections to support slabs, wedges shall be
secured by tack welding, or an equivalent method of securing the wedges to
prevent them from falling out of position. Lifting rods may not be released

until the wedges at that column have
been secured.
(m) All welding on temporary and
permanent connections shall be performed by a certified welder, familiar
with the welding requirements specified in the plans and specifications for
the lift-slab operation.
(n) Load transfer from jacks/lifting
units to building columns shall not be
executed until the welds on the column
shear plates (weld blocks) are cooled to
air temperature.
(o) Jacks/lifting units shall be positively secured to building columns so
that they do not become dislodged or
dislocated.
(p) Equipment shall be designed and
installed so that the lifting rods cannot
slip out of position or the employer
shall institute other measures, such as
the use of locking or blocking devices,
which will provide positive connection
between the lifting rods and attachments and will prevent components
from disengaging during lifting operations.
APPENDIX TO § 1926.705—LIFT-SLAB
OPERATIONS
(This Appendix is non-mandatory.)
In paragraph 1926.705(k), OSHA requires
employees to be removed from the building/
structure during jacking operations unless
an independent registered professional engineer, other than the engineer who designed
and planned the lifting operation, has determined that the building/structure has been
sufficiently reinforced to insure the integrity of the building/structure. One method to
comply with this provision is for the employer to ensure that continuous bottom
steel is provided in every slab and in both directions through every wall or column head
area. (Column head area means the distance
between lines that are one and one half
times the thickness of the slab or drop panel.
These lines are located outside opposite
faces of the outer edges of the shearhead sections—See Figure 1). The amount of bottom
steel shall be established by assuming loss of
support at a given lifting jack and then determining the steel necessary to carry, by
catenary action over the span between surrounding supports, the slab service dead load
plus any service dead and live loads likely to
be acting on the slab during jacking. In addition, the surrounding supports must be capable of resisting any additional load transferred to them as a result of the loss of support at the lifting jack considered.

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Occupational Safety and Health Admin., Labor

§ 1926.706

[55 FR 42328, Oct. 18, 1990]

§ 1926.706 Requirements for masonry
construction.
(a) A limited access zone shall be established whenever a masonry wall is
being constructed. The limited access
zone shall conform to the following.
(1) The limited access zone shall be
established prior to the start of construction of the wall.
(2) The limited access zone shall be
equal to the height of the wall to be

constructed plus four feet, and shall
run the entire length of the wall.
(3) The limited access zone shall be
established on the side of the wall
which will be unscaffolded.
(4) The limited access zone shall be
restricted to entry by employees actively engaged in constructing the
wall. No other employees shall be permitted to enter the zone.

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