For workers on concrete and masonry crews: spot impalement, bucket and post-tensioning hazards, use concrete equipment safely, work around formwork and shoring, stay clear of precast and lift-slab loads, and respect the masonry limited access zone.
Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1926 Subpart Q (1926.700–1926.706, concrete and masonry construction) · about 7 min read
Need proof of training? The full course (25 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.
All protruding reinforcing steel that you could fall onto or into must be guarded to eliminate the hazard of impalement.
Working under buckets
No one may work under a concrete bucket while it is being raised or lowered into position. As far as practical, the bucket is routed so that no one, or the fewest people, are exposed if it falls.
Riding buckets
No employee may ride a concrete bucket. Ever.
Post-tensioning
During tensioning, no one except those essential to the operation may be behind the jack. Signs and barriers limit access to the post-tensioning area.
Head and face protection
You may not apply a cement, sand and water mixture through a pneumatic hose unless you wear protective head and face equipment.
Construction loads
No construction loads go on a concrete structure unless the employer determines, based on information from a person qualified in structural design, that it can support them.
Before you use a piece of equipment, check that its required safeguard is there and working.
Mixers with loading skips of one cubic yard or larger: a mechanical device to clear the skip, and guardrails on each side of the skip.
Power trowels (manually guided, rotating): a control switch that shuts off power automatically when your hands come off the handles.
Concrete buggies: handles must not extend beyond the wheels on either side.
Pumps: discharge pipe supports designed for 100 percent overload, and positive fail-safe joint connectors on compressed air hoses so sections cannot separate under pressure.
Buckets with hydraulic or pneumatic gates: positive safety latches or similar devices to prevent premature or accidental dumping.
Tremies and similar conveyances: sections secured with wire rope (or equivalent) in addition to the regular couplings.
Bull floats used where they might contact energized conductors: nonconductive handles, or handles insulated with an equivalent nonconductive sheath.
Masonry saws: a semicircular enclosure over the blade, designed to retain blade fragments.
Good practice: if a safeguard is missing, defeated or broken, do not use the equipment. Tell your supervisor.
You may not do maintenance or repair on equipment such as compressors, mixers, screens or pumps, where it could start up unexpectedly and hurt you, unless all potentially hazardous energy sources are locked out and tagged.
Tags must read Do Not Start or similar language.
Bulk cement bins and silos
You may not enter a bulk cement storage bin, container or silo unless the ejection system has been shut down, locked out and tagged.
Check the shoring before, during and after the pour
Formwork must be built and maintained to carry, without failing, all the vertical and lateral loads that can reasonably be expected. Drawings or plans for the jack layout, formwork and shoring, working decks and scaffolds, including all revisions, must be available at the jobsite.
When shoring is inspected
Before erection: all shoring (and reshoring) equipment is checked against the formwork drawings. Damaged shoring with reduced strength is not used.
Immediately before, during, and immediately after the concrete is placed.
Shoring found damaged or weakened after it is up must be immediately reinforced.
What a sound shore looks like
Sills are sound, rigid and able to carry the maximum intended load.
Base plates, shore heads, extension devices and adjustment screws are in firm contact with the foundation and the form, and secured when necessary.
Single post shores are not adjusted to raise formwork after the concrete is placed.
Good practice: during a pour, watch for sagging, bulging, cracking or creaking forms and shores. Get people clear and tell your supervisor right away.
Rebar cages for walls, piers, columns and similar vertical structures must be adequately supported so they cannot overturn or collapse.
Unrolled wire mesh can spring back. The employer must take measures to stop it recoiling, such as securing each end of the roll or turning the roll over.
When forms can come down
Forms and shores (except for slabs on grade and slip forms) stay up until the employer determines the concrete is strong enough to support its own weight and the loads on it. That decision must be based on one of these:
The plans and specifications set conditions for removal, and those conditions have been followed, or
The concrete has been tested with an appropriate ASTM compressive strength test, and the results show it is strong enough.
Reshoring goes in as original forms and shores are removed whenever the concrete must carry loads beyond its capacity. Reshores stay until the concrete has adequate strength for its weight and all loads on it.
Your part: do not strip forms or pull shores because the concrete "looks hard." Wait for the go-ahead from the person who made the determination.
Precast wall units, structural framing and tilt-up panels must be adequately supported so they cannot overturn or collapse until permanent connections are completed. Do not remove braces early.
No one may be under precast members being lifted or tilted into position, except the employees required to erect them.
Lift-slab jacking
In lift-slab construction, slabs are cast at ground level and jacked into place.
While any jacking operation is going on, only employees essential to the jacking may be in the building, unless it has been reinforced sufficiently to ensure its integrity during erection.
Under no circumstances may anyone not essential to the jacking be immediately beneath a slab while it is being lifted.
A jacking operation begins when a slab is lifted and ends when it is secured with temporary or permanent connections.
A limited access zone is an area alongside a masonry wall under construction, clearly marked to limit who can enter. One must be set up whenever a masonry wall is being built.
WhenSet up before construction of the wall starts.
How wideThe height of the wall to be built plus four feet, along the entire length of the wall.
Which sideThe side of the wall that will be unscaffolded.
Who entersOnly employees actively engaged in building the wall. No one else.
How long it stays
Until the wall is adequately supported against overturning and collapse.
For walls over eight feet: until the bracing rule below is met.
Bracing walls over eight feet
All masonry walls over eight feet high must be adequately braced to prevent overturning and collapse, unless the wall is already adequately supported. Bracing stays in place until the permanent supporting elements of the structure are in place.
Example: a block wall that will be 12 feet tall needs a zone 16 feet wide on the unscaffolded side, running the full length of the wall.
Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1926.700, 1926.701, 1926.702, 1926.703, 1926.704, 1926.705 and 1926.706 (Subpart Q, concrete and masonry construction). It is not an OSHA card or license. Subpart Q has no training requirement of its own, and this certificate does not by itself meet the employer's training duty under 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2). Your employer must still instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the regulations applicable to their work environment to control or eliminate any hazards or other exposure to illness or injury.
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.