Some OSHA Regulations

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has a few rules you should to be aware of:

Excavation

Banks over 4 feet must be shored

Trenches deeper than 4 feet and longer than 8 feet must be shored

Shoring slope cannot exceed 1:2 (H:V)

Bell bottom trenches (wider at the bottom) must have bracing on the thin part to prevent cave-in. Workers entering these should wear a life-line.

Ladders must be provided at 25 feet intervals for all trenches deeper than 3 feet.

Construction Site

Toilets must be provided at the site.

#People

< 20  1

>20   1 toilet and 1 urinal for every 40 workers

>200 1 toilet and 1 urinal for every 50 workers

The Prime contractor assumes all obligations. If the work has been subcontracted they may share obligations with the sub-contractor.

Employer must have an emergency action plan for evacuation

First aid supplies are required

Incident rate = number of injuries (annual) /  number of annual hours * 200,000

Employees must be protected form high sound levels

Employees must be protected from extreme light intensities

Proper signs must be placed.

The Critical Fall height is 6 feet. Anything over this height must have guardrails or other protective measures taken. Guardrails must be 42 inches.

Masonry Walls

While construction masonry walls a limited access zone must be set up adjacent to the wall. The size of it needs to be the wall height plus four feet. Only employees constructing the wall can enter it.

Site Layout

Construction sites need to have adequate access to roads around the site to ensure safe transportation of construction equipment and materials. Pedestrian and vehicle access in nearby roads must be maintained and controlled.

The site must be firm, properly drained and dry, and have adequate space to perform the work, operate equipment etc, and be large enough to store needed materials.