REBAR SAFETY

1
REBAR SAFETY
2
Rebar

• Reinforcement steel (rebar) is used on almost
  every construction site.
• Rebar is commonly overlooked everyday as a
  possible hazard to the construction worker.

3
Types of Injuries

• The two most common injuries from rebar are
  impalements and abrasions.
• An impalement refers to when a worker fall on a
  piece of rebar with enough force to pierce his
  body.
• An abrasion usually happens when a worker rubs
  against a piece of rebar and gets scratched
  and/or cut.

4

• The number two cause for injuries in construction
  is workplace falls and impalements.

5
Injury cases

• Workers were setting steel bar joists on a
  masonry wall. The victim climbed down a vertical
  toothed masonry wall and slipped or lost his grip
  and fell to a lower masonry wall 16 ft. below. He
  was completely impaled in a sitting position on
  vertically protruding 2- foot high 4 rebar.
• Employee 1 fell from a 10 ft 10 in. high flat
  roof onto an exposed piece of rebar that was 5/8
  in. in diameter and 7 in. high. Employee 1 was
  killed.

6
OSHA Regulations

• 1926.701 (b) All protruding reinforcement steel,
  onto and into which employees could fall, shall
  be guarded to eliminate the hazard of impalement

7
REBAR CAPS

• This type of rebar cap are ONLY used to prevent
  abrasion.
• These are NOT going to help against impalement.

8
REBAR CAPS

• This type of Rebar cap are used to prevent
  impalement.
• The broad flat surface helps distribute the force
  over a larger area.

9
USE THE RIGHT CAP !!!!

• A laborer was supplying mortar and bricks to a
  mason, when he noticed employee 1 falling
  approximately 12 ft off a scaffold's 2nd level
  walk board. His body was impaled on some 5 rebar
  (4 ft in height), and he was killed. The rebar
  had hard plastic mushroom protectors that were
  perforated when the employee's body struck the
  rebar ends

10
Back Injuries

• According to a recent Washington State Department
  of Labor and Industries, rodworkers rate (3997
  per 10,000 FTEs/year) of non-traumatic soft
  tissue injuries compared to 300 in Industrial
  occupation classes. (Silverstein and Kalat,
  1999).
• Many workers spend 8-10 hrs a day repeatedly
  bending over tying rebar together.

11

• New tools and techniques have been developed to
  allow the workers to work upright when tying
  rebar together.
• The tool in the picture uses plastic staple-like
  fasteners to attach the two pieces of rebar
  together.

12
Fall Protection

• When working on a elevated surface, it is
  important to use the right fall protection device.

13
Other Safety Points

• Rebar can come in 20, 30, 40 Feet lengths. It is
  important to use the proper equipment and/or man
  power to move these pieces into place.

14
Other Safety Points Cont.

• Always use the correct PPE when handling and
  cutting rebar, such as certified work gloves,
  safety glasses, and hearing protection.