What does §1926.702 require for formwork shoring and reshoring?

Under 29 CFR 1926.702, formwork must be designed by a qualified person to support all vertical and lateral loads without exceeding design deflection — usually per ACI SP-4 Formwork for Concrete. A competent person must inspect formwork, shoring, and reshoring before every concrete placement, and formwork removal must wait until the concrete has reached the design strength documented in the placement drawings. Reshoring must be sequenced per the qualified-person design so that no slab or member is overloaded before the structure can carry its share of the construction load.

What is a limited access zone (LAZ) and when is it required under §1926.705?

A limited access zone (LAZ) under 29 CFR 1926.705(g) is an area alongside a masonry wall under construction that is barricaded to keep personnel and equipment clear of the wall until it is permanently braced. The LAZ must be established before the wall is built higher than its foundation, must extend the full length of the wall, and must be enforced until permanent bracing or the structure above provides lateral support. Section 1926.705 also requires that masonry walls more than 8 feet in height be designed by an engineer or architect and inspected by a competent person before work continues above that threshold.

When must protruding rebar be capped under §1926.703?

Under 29 CFR 1926.703(b), all reinforcing steel, dowels, and post-tensioning tendons that protrude from concrete and expose workers to impalement must be guarded before work begins near the mat. Acceptable guards include rebar caps rated for impalement prevention, troughs that redirect a falling worker away from the bar, or bending the bar down out of the fall path. Impalement protection is functionally part of the PPE and workers access chain — see /construction/ppe-requirements for the impalement-grade PPE chain and the access-equipment rules that put workers within fall distance of the rebar.

What §1926.706 bracing duties apply to a masonry wall that is not yet permanently supported?

Under 29 CFR 1926.706, masonry walls under construction must be temporarily braced against collapse until the permanent support system (the structure above, the floor system, or the engineered bracing plan called for in §1926.705) is in place. Walls that are not yet permanently braced must be cleared of all personnel and equipment; the bracing must be designed by a qualified person; and the bracing must remain in place until the permanent lateral support is complete. A wall that has reached the height where it would stand on its own is not "self-supporting" until the permanent bracing plan is complete — any work or traffic in the affected zone before then is a §1926.706 violation.

What PPE does OSHA require for concrete and masonry work (§1926.95 / Subpart E)?

Under 29 CFR 1926.95 plus Subpart E, workers in concrete and masonry operations must wear a hard hat (Subpart E §1926.100), eye or face protection when handling wet cement, chipping, or grinding (§1926.102), gloves suited to the chemical and abrasion exposure of wet cement (§1926.138), foot protection with puncture-resistant soles and metatarsal guards where reinforcing steel is present (Subpart E), and high-visibility apparel when workers are exposed to vehicle or equipment traffic (§1926.201). Wet cement is caustic and requires chemical-resistant gloves — ordinary leather or cotton gloves are not adequate for prolonged concrete handling. The full Subpart E PPE chain (head, eye, hand, foot, hi-vis, and impalement protection) is detailed on /construction/ppe-requirements.

What does a competent person verify during a post-tensioning operation under §1926.703?

Under 29 CFR 1926.703(c), post-tensioning operations must be performed by, or directly supervised by, a competent person who verifies the duct anchoring, jack calibration, tendon profile, and the area behind the stressing jack before tensioning begins. The competent person also confirms that personnel are kept clear of the stressing jack during the operation because an unexpected tendon release can throw the jack and the concrete behind it. Post-tensioning ducts must be anchored against unexpected release of tensioning force, and lifting inserts used on precast members handled during the operation must be capable of supporting at least four times the maximum intended load.

Construction Safety | 29 CFR 1926 Subpart Q

Concrete & Masonry Safety for Construction (29 CFR 1926.700) (2025)

Subpart Q (29 CFR 1926.700–1926.706) governs every phase of concrete and masonry work on a construction site — scope and applicability, cast-in-place provisions, formwork shoring and reshoring per ACI SP-4, reinforcement handling and post-tensioning operations, masonry wall construction with the limited access zone and 8 ft threshold, temporary bracing under §1926.706, and the PPE chain that wraps every Subpart Q duty. Any work involving formwork, wet concrete, precast members, or masonry units triggers these requirements — and violations carry penalties up to $161,323 per citation.

29 CFR 1926.700–1926.706

Crushed-by & Struck-by

Updated for 2025

Why It Matters

Formwork collapses, rebar impalements, and unbraced masonry wall failures are the leading concrete-and-masonry killers — and each one is traceable to a missing inspection, a missing guard, or a missing brace

The Bureau of Labor Statistics and NIOSH FACE reports consistently identify concrete and masonry operations as among the leading causes of construction fatalities — roughly 80 workers a year. The fatality pattern is concrete: a formwork shore fails because the stripping-strength test was never documented and the competent person didn't re-inspect the shoring after the pour; a rebar mat impales a worker who steps backward because the mat was never capped per §1926.703; an unbraced masonry wall collapses onto a crew because the limited access zone under §1926.705 was missing and the §1926.706 temporary bracing plan was never handed to the competent-person inspector; a post-tensioning jack is thrown across the deck when a duct pulls free because no §1926.703 competent person supervised the tensioning. The deaths concentrate where the pre-pour inspection lapsed, where the rebar guard wasn't in place, where the limited access zone wasn't enforced, and where the temporary bracing plan wasn't documented before the wall went up.

Subpart Q exists to converge every piece of that risk into one set of duties: the §1926.700 scope and definitions, the §1926.701 cast-in-place and PPE duty, the §1926.702 formwork design and inspection duty rooted in ACI SP-4, the §1926.703 reinforcement-impalement and post-tensioning supervision duty, the §1926.705 masonry wall height and limited-access-zone duty, the §1926.706 temporary-bracing duty, and the §1926.95 / Subpart E PPE chain that wraps them all. A pre-pour inspection documented on the deck, a rebar cap on every protrusion, a barricaded LAZ, and a signed bracing plan cost minutes to verify; an OSHA citation or a struck-by fatality costs orders of magnitude more.

~80/year

workers killed in concrete and masonry operations (BLS / NIOSH FACE construction fatality data — formwork collapse, rebar impalement, post-tensioning release, struck-by from unbraced masonry)

7 cards + composed PPE

covering §§1926.700–1926.706 — scope, cast-in-place general provisions, formwork shoring/reshoring per ACI SP-4, reinforcement and post-tensioning, masonry wall construction with 8 ft threshold and limited access zone, §1926.706 temporary bracing, plus the composed §1926.95 / Subpart E PPE chain that wraps the Subpart Q duties

29 CFR 1926 Subpart Q

Breaking down the concrete and masonry safety regulations

Subpart Q (29 CFR 1926.700–1926.706) governs every phase of concrete and masonry construction — scope and definitions, cast-in-place general provisions and PPE, formwork shoring and reshoring per ACI SP-4, reinforcement handling and post-tensioning operations, masonry wall construction with the 8 ft threshold and limited access zone, and the §1926.706 temporary bracing duty that wraps the wall until permanent support is in place.

29 CFR 1926.700

Scope, Application & Definitions

Subpart Q (29 CFR 1926.700–1926.706) covers every construction activity involving concrete or masonry work — cast-in-place concrete, precast concrete, and masonry construction — wherever the work is performed under 29 CFR 1926. The §1926.700 scope section defines "cast-in-place concrete", "competent person", "formwork", "limited access zone", "lift slab", "masonry wall", "post-tensioning", "qualified person", "reinforcing steel", and "shoring/reshoring" — each of which is used by one of the operative §§1926.701–1926.706 standards. Subpart Q applies whenever wet concrete, precast members, or masonry units are placed, finished, stressed, stripped, or demolished; it does not cover the independent concrete-mixing operation in a ready-mix plant or the precast manufacturing facility outside the construction site.

29 CFR 1926.701

General Provisions for Cast-in-Place Concrete

Under §1926.701, every worker engaged in concrete and masonry construction must be trained in the hazards specific to the work — formwork assembly, concrete placement, post-tensioning, masonry runoff, and the hazards of working under loads being held by crane or hoist. Required PPE under §1926.701 includes eye and face protection during placement and chipping, hand protection for wet concrete and masonry handling, foot protection appropriate to the rebar and formwork exposure, and head protection. The §1926.701(a) prohibition on workers being positioned under suspended loads references Subpart CC (§1926.1400–1926.1441) for the lift side; the §1926.701(b) rebar-impalement guard requirement cross-references §1926.703.

29 CFR 1926.702

Formwork, Shoring, Reshoring & Bracing

Section 1926.702 requires formwork to be designed by a qualified person and capable of supporting all vertical and lateral loads without exceeding design deflection — typically per ACI SP-4 Formwork for Concrete. A competent person must inspect formwork, shoring, and reshoring before every concrete placement, and formwork stripping must wait until the concrete has reached the design strength documented in the placement drawings. Reshoring must be sequenced per the qualified-person design so that no slab or member is overloaded before the structure can carry its share of the construction load. Stripping is one of the leading drivers of formwork-collapse fatalities — most stripping events are preventable with a documented stripping-strength determination and a competent-person inspection immediately before the load is removed.

29 CFR 1926.703

Reinforcement & Post-Tensioning

Section 1926.703 covers both reinforcement handling and post-tensioning operations. Protruding reinforcing steel, dowels, and post-tensioning tendons must be guarded to prevent impalement before any work begins near the mat — troughs, rebar caps rated for impalement, or bending the bar out of the fall path. Post-tensioning operations must be supervised by a designated competent person who verifies duct anchoring, jack calibration, and the area behind the stressing jack before tensioning begins; an unexpected tendon release can throw the jack violently backward. Post-tensioning ducts must be anchored against unexpected tension release, and lifting inserts in precast members handled during the operation must be capable of supporting at least four times the maximum intended load.

29 CFR 1926.705

Masonry Construction

Section 1926.705 sets the masonry-specific rules: every masonry wall over 8 feet in height must be designed by an engineer or architect and must be inspected by a competent person before any work continues above that threshold. The wall must be constructed only up to the foundation height — no masonry may be placed on a wall section where the foundation has not been completed to the height of the wall being built. Section 1926.705(g) requires a limited access zone (LAZ) along the wall under construction — an area barricaded to keep personnel and equipment clear of the wall until it has permanent lateral support from the structure above or the engineered bracing required under §1926.706.

29 CFR 1926.706

Temporary Bracing of Masonry Walls

Section 1926.706 sets the temporary-bracing duty for masonry walls under construction: a masonry wall that is not yet permanently braced must be braced per the qualified-person design, and during the period before permanent bracing is complete the wall must be cleared of all personnel and equipment. The bracing must remain in place until the permanent lateral support is complete — the floor system above, the structural connections called out in §1926.705, or an engineered equivalent. A wall that has reached a height where it "stands on its own" is not self-supporting until the permanent bracing plan is complete; any worker traffic or equipment alongside the wall during that window is a §1926.706 violation. Unbraced masonry wall collapse during construction is one of the leading struck-by fatalities in residential and light-commercial construction.

PPE for Concrete & Masonry Work

29 CFR 1926.95 + Subpart E

Concrete and masonry work triggers the full Subpart E PPE chain in addition to the Subpart Q specific duties: hard hat (Subpart E §1926.100), eye or face protection during placement, chipping, and grinding (§1926.102), gloves suited to the chemical and abrasion exposure of wet cement (§1926.138), foot protection with puncture-resistant soles and metatarsal guards where reinforcing steel is present (Subpart E), high-visibility apparel where workers are exposed to vehicle or equipment traffic (§1926.201), and impalement protection on every protruding rebar and post-tensioning tendon per §1926.703. Wet cement is caustic — leather or cotton gloves degrade quickly under wet-cement handling, and chemical-resistant gloves are required for prolonged concrete finishing work. The Subpart E PPE chain sits beside the Subpart Q specific rules rather than replacing them; the cross-link is the §1926.701(a) PPE duty.

2025 OSHA concrete-and-masonry citation penalties

OSHA adjusts its civil penalty amounts annually for inflation under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act. As of January 2025:

Violation Type	Maximum Penalty Per Citation	Typical Trigger
Willful or Repeat	$161,323	Employer knowingly operated a wall or slab without the engineering design required by §1926.705, knowingly proceeded with formwork placement without the qualified-person design or the competent-person inspection required by §1926.702, knowingly released post-tensioning tendons without the duct anchoring required by §1926.703, or knowingly allowed personnel inside an un-braced masonry wall zone that violated §1926.706; same Subpart Q violation cited within 5 years
Serious	$16,132	Substantial probability of death or serious physical harm from a formwork collapse that a competent-person inspection under §1926.702 would have caught, a rebar impalement that a §1926.703 guard would have prevented, an unbraced masonry wall collapse that violated §1926.706, or a post-tensioning release that the §1926.703 competent-person supervision would have prevented
Other-than-Serious	$16,132	Subpart Q violation with direct relationship to safety but low probability of death or serious physical harm (e.g., formwork inspection log present but missing the competent-person signature under §1926.702, or the limited access zone under §1926.705 in place but not barricaded to its full required length)
Failure to Abate	$16,132/day	Formwork-design or shoring-design gap under §1926.702, rebar impalement-guard gap under §1926.703, post-tensioning supervision gap under §1926.703, limited access zone gap under §1926.705, or temporary-bracing gap under §1926.706 not corrected by the OSHA-specified abatement deadline

Note: A single concrete placement operation can produce multiple Subpart Q citations — no qualified-person formwork design under §1926.702, no competent-person inspection before the pour, an impalement-exposed rebar mat under §1926.703, a post-tensioning operation unsupervised by the §1926.703 competent person, a missing limited access zone under §1926.705, and an unbraced masonry wall under §1926.706 each represent independent compliance duties.

Source: OSHA penalty adjustment schedule. Amounts are updated annually under the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act Improvements Act of 2015.

Free Resource

Use our OSHA construction safety checklist before your next concrete placement or masonry wall raise

Our free printable checklist covers concrete and masonry alongside nine other construction safety categories — 50+ items drawn from 29 CFR 1926. Subpart Q rebar guarding, formwork inspection, shoring and reshoring, the limited access zone, the §1926.706 temporary bracing plan, and the §1926.95 / Subpart E PPE chain are folded into the checklist alongside scaffolding, fall protection, electrical, and the other Subpart-aligned categories so you can run a pre-pour concrete check and the surrounding compliance layers in one pass.

Rebar caps installed on every protruding reinforcement before work begins near the mat (§1926.703)
Formwork inspected by a competent person before concrete placement; shoring & reshoring verified per the qualified-person design (§1926.702)
Bracing — formwork, masonry wall bracing, and limited access zone — confirmed per §1926.702 / §1926.705 / §1926.706
Limited access zone established and enforced for every masonry wall over 8 ft that is not yet permanently braced (§1926.705 / §1926.706)
PPE on: hard hat, eye/face, hand, foot, high-vis; chemical-resistant gloves where wet cement is handled (§1926.95 / Subpart E)

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Common Questions

Concrete and masonry safety under 29 CFR 1926 Subpart Q, answered

Related OSHA Construction Safety Pages

Five more OSHA construction safety pages that bind to concrete and masonry

A concrete placement isn't a standalone activity — formwork carpenters and rebar setters reach the deck by ladder, finishers stand on scaffolding to see the slab, precast members are set by a Subpart CC crane, and the wet concrete will drop on workers below if it fails. These five pages cover the adjacent safety categories a formwork carpenter, rebar setter, post-tensioning operator, or masonry foreman needs on the same pour.

29 CFR 1926.451

Scaffolding Safety

Scaffolding carries the formwork carpenters and the post-tensioning crew onto the deck — §1926.451 covers the scaffold that supports the men who work the verticals and soffits, plus the platform the foreman uses to verify formwork stripping strength before the shoring comes down.

Read the scaffolding safety page

29 CFR 1926.200

Falling Objects Protection

A failed formwork shore drops the wet concrete onto everyone beneath it — §1926.200 + §1926.202 set the rules for toeboards, canopies, and debris netting that protect workers below a forming deck from a form tie pull-out, a falling rebar mat, or a column that fails during the pour.

Read the falling objects page

29 CFR 1926.95

PPE Requirements

Concrete and masonry work triggers the full Subpart E PPE chain — hard hat, eye/face, hand, foot, hi-vis, plus impalement protection on every protruding bar under §1926.701 / §1926.703. Wet cement is caustic, and chemical-resistant gloves are required for prolonged finishing work.

Read the PPE requirements page

29 CFR 1926.1050

Ladder Safety

Formwork carpenters and rebar setters reach the deck via ladders — §1926.1050–§1926.1053 cover the fixed and portable ladders on the forming access path, including the ladder the competent person climbs to complete the §1926.702 pre-pour formwork inspection above the line of the wall.

Read the ladder safety page

29 CFR 1926.1400

Cranes & Derricks Safety

Precast members set under §1926.704 and the precast-lift inserts rated at 4× intended load per §1926.703 are loaded, flown, and landed by cranes — §1926.1400–§1926.1441 (Subpart CC) governs the crane side of the same lift, including operator cert, signal person, and the A2B device on the boom.

Read the cranes & derricks page

Stop managing Subpart Q inspections and formwork verifications with clipboards and spreadsheets

Sentinel Safety automates pre-pour formwork inspections, rebar-capping verification, limited-access-zone checks, §1926.706 bracing-plan tracking, post-tensioning competent-person records, daily concrete and masonry safety checklists, and OSHA record-keeping for construction firms — so you can focus on the pour, not the paperwork.

If a formwork collapse, rebar impalement, or un-braced masonry wall event happens on your site today, our Incident Report Generator captures the Subpart Q facts in the right shape for the OSHA 300, 300A, and 301.

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