Construction loads: 1926.701(a)
No construction loads may be placed on a concrete structure or portion of one unless the employer determines, based on information from a person qualified in structural design, that it can support them. The regulation sets no cure time and no strength percentage. A 7-day cure, 75% of design strength, or a finisher's walk test are all wrong because none of them is that qualified structural determination.
Protruding rebar: 1926.701(b)
All protruding reinforcing steel onto and into which employees could fall must be guarded to eliminate the impalement hazard. The listed common error is limiting this to vertical rebar at ground level. There is no 6 ft height trigger in 1926.701, and it is not limited to walls and columns. If a worker could fall onto or into it, it gets guarded.
Shoring inspection and adjustment: 1926.703(b)
- (b)(3): erected shoring equipment is inspected immediately before, during and immediately after concrete placement. All three checks are required: once before, once after, or daily until stripping are not the schedule.
- (b)(9): single-post shores shall not be adjusted to raise formwork after concrete is in place. There is no exception for a prior inspection, no small-adjustment allowance such as 1 in, and waiting for initial set does not permit it.
Stripping forms: 1926.703(e)(1)
Forms and shores, other than for slabs on grade and slip forms, stay in place until the employer determines the concrete can support its own weight and superimposed loads. That determination rests on either:
- removal conditions in the plans and specifications that were followed, or
- ASTM compressive strength tests showing sufficient strength.
The listed common error is answering with a fixed number of days. The regulation sets none, so 7-day and 28-day answers are wrong. The surface feeling hard to the touch is neither a specification condition nor an ASTM test.
The pattern
Every rule in this unit ties the decision to a real determination: a qualified structural designer, the specs, or a strength test. A fixed day count or a feel-based check is the trap.