CON/CNE 271

Subpart R – Steel
Erection

SPR 2018
 Steel Erection

Subpart R
1926.750 - 1926.761
 Subpart R - Application

Covers hazards associated with

steel erection activities on:
✓Single & multi-story buildings
✓Bridges
✓Other steel structures
 Steel Erection Scope

✓Covers all workers engaged in steel erection

activities

✓Does not cover precast concrete, electric

transmission towers, communications towers,
broadcast towers, water towers or tanks
 Tennessee State Route 69
Bridge
▪ SR 69 spans the Tennessee River at Clifton,
Tennessee
▪ Bridge designed by the Tennessee Department of
Transportation to carry two lanes of traffic
▪ The general contractor was a firm in Tennessee,
previously built 20 major bridges
▪ The general contractor had a fleet of high-capacity
water-borne lifting cranes
▪ Steel erection subcontracted to another firm in
Tenn.
▪ Steel fabricator located in Montgomery, Alabama
▪ Tenn DOT inspected work of the contractor at the
site
Elevation & plan of bridge at time of
accident
Main span of 525 ft, total length of steel superstructure 1205’-6”
3 - 14 ft tall welded steel plate girders with field bolted connections
 Collapse of the bridge
A few hours after
collapse on
Tuesday, May 16,
1995
Three continuous
welded steel
girders with field
bolted connections
Three ironworkers
were on the bridge
at the time of the
collapse, one
drowned
 OSHA’S Most Commonly
Cited – 2007
✓Training
✓Fall Protection
✓Controlled Decking Zones marked
✓Improper equipment
✓Site Specific Plans
✓Notification of Concrete Strength
 752. Steel Erection
Site Plan, Layout & Sequence
Controlling Contractor must ensure the following
is provided and maintained:

✓Adequate access roads and means of

controlling pedestrian and vehicular
traffic
✓Firm, graded, drained work area with
adequate space for safe storage of
materials
✓Pre-planning of overhead hoisting
Do we
have a
hazard
here?
 752. Steel Erection
Site Plan, Layout & Sequence

Controlling Contractor must notify erector in

writing:
✓That concrete has reached 75 % (or
sufficient) of intended design strength to
support imposed loads (concrete
samples must be field-cured vs. lab-
cured)
✓If any repairs, replacements or
modifications have been made to anchor
bolts
 753. Hoisting & Rigging
✓Pre-shift visual inspection of cranes is
required

✓A qualified rigger must inspect the rigging

prior to each shift

✓Safety latches must not be deactivated

unless the qualified rigger has
determined it is more safe to do so and
covered in site-plan
 753. Overhead Protection

✓Hoisting operations & routes for suspended

loads must be pre-planned
✓No loads over other workers
✓Exceptions:
✓Connectors making initial connection
✓Riggers rigging loads
 753. Working Under Suspended
Loads

✓Only those employees doing connecting or

hooking and unhooking may work
under a suspended load

✓Load must be properly secured

Is there a hazard here?
Is there a hazard here?
 Hoisting & Rigging
Personnel Platforms

✓Section 1926.1431 (a) prohibits the

general use of crane suspended
personnel platforms

✓Steel erectors may use platforms only

after proving no other feasible way
exists to do the work
 753. Multiple Lift Rigging
(Christmas Treeing) may be used if
the following is met:
✓A multiple lift rigging assembly is used
✓Maximum of five members hoisted per
lift
✓Only beams and structural members
lifted
✓All employees engaged in the multiple
lift have been trained
 753. Multiple Lift Rigging
(Christmas Treeing) may be used if:

✓Crane manufacturer allows

✓Total load does not exceed capacity

✓Members attached at center of

gravity and maintained level
 753. Multiple Lift Rigging
(Christmas Treeing) may be used if
the following is met:

✓Rigged at least 7 feet apart

✓Set from the bottom up
✓Controlled load lowering used
 Correct
configuration
of a multi-lift
assembly
 Structural Steel Assembly
✓Structural stability must be maintained at all
times
✓Not more than 8 floors between erection floor and
uppermost permanent floor
✓No more than 4 floors (or 48 feet) of unfinished
bolting/welding
✓Fully planked or decked floor maintained within two
floors (30 feet) under erection work being
performed
✓Shear connectors may not be installed on beams
until after decking is installed to prevent
tripping
Structural Steel Assembly
Shear Connectors

✓Shear connectors may not be installed

until after metal decking is in place so
that workers may use decking as a
work platform

✓Shear connectors may not be installed

from within a controlled decking zone
(CDZ) 1926.760(c)(8)
Do you recognize a hazard here?
Shear Connectors
Cup
Structural Steel Assembly
“Plumbing Up”
✓When deemed necessary by a competent
person, plumbing-up equipment shall
be installed in conjunction with the
steel erection process to ensure the
stability of the structure
✓When used, plumbing-up equipment shall
be installed before the structure is
loaded with construction material
✓Plumbing-up equipment shall be removed
only with the approval of the
competent person
• Structural steel frames require
temporary bracing during
construction
• Temporary bracing is placed before
plumbing up the structural frame
• This gives the structure temporary
lateral stability
• Temporary bracing is removed by
the erector
• In a braced frame, temporary bracing is removed after final bolt-
up is complete and the permanent bracing system is in place
• In a rigid frame, temporary bracing is removed after final bolt-up
is complete
 Structural Steel Assembly
Metal Decking
✓Loose material on decking bundles must be
secured

✓Decking bundles must be landed on

framing members for support

✓Decking to be secured at end of shift

Any Hazards here?
 Structural Steel Assembly
Metal Decking
✓Decking must be installed continuously
where possible
✓Metal decking holes and openings must not
be cut until immediately prior to being
permanently filled

✓Decking holes defined – gap or void more

than 2” in least dimension and less than
12” in greatest dimension

✓Floor openings defined – gap or void whose

least dimension is 12” or more
 Structural Steel Assembly
Metal Decking
✓Where design does not allow
openings to be decked
over (i.e elevator shafts,
stairs) employees must
be protected from falls
✓Framed metal deck openings
shall have structural
members turned down to
allow continuous deck
installation except where
not allowed by structural
design constraints or
constructibility Is there a hazard here?
 Structural Steel Assembly
Metal Decking
Covering floor openings
requires:
✓Covers capable of supporting twice
the intended load of employees,
materials, equipment
✓Marked with “HOLE or COVER” in
high visibility paint and secured
✓Gaps around columns to be filled
where decking does not fit tightly
Do you see a hazard?
Worker could fall through this opening if not prote
 Column Anchorage

✓All columns must be anchored by a minimum of

4 anchor bolts
✓Competent person to evaluate need for guying
or bracing
✓Anchor bolts cannot be repaired, replaced, field
modified without approval of engineer of
record
✓Controlling contractor must notify erector in
writing of any field repairs or modifications to
anchor bolts
Do you see a Hazard?
Hope I don’t have to ask for this one….
 Beams & Columns
✓Load not to be released from the hoisting
line until members secured with at
least two bolts per connection wrench
tight

✓Solid web members used as diagonal

bracing must be secured by at least one
bolt wrench tight
Do you see a hazard here?
 Beams & Columns

✓When two members on opposite sides of

a column share common connection
holes, at least one bolt must remain
connected to the first member unless
a shop-attached seat is supplied with
the member to secure the first
member and prevent the column
being displaced
 Double Connections
Staggered Connection
 Double Connections
Clipped End Connection
 Beams & Columns

Perimeter columns must not be

erected unless:
✓They extend at least 48” above
finished floor for installation of
perimeter safety cables
✓They have holes or other devices at
42-45” above the finished floor and
at the mid point for installation of
safety cables
 Column

Column splices

Perimeter columns must

extend at least 48” above
the finished floor to permit 48"
installation of perimeter
protection

Finish Floor Elevation

Perimeter Columns

Perimeter columns
must extend a
Column for minimum of 48
next tier
inches (1.2 m)
above the finished
48″ min. from
floor to permit
finished floor installation of
to top of
column perimeter safety
cables prior to
erection of next
tier
Perimeter safety railing cables are visible in this
structure
 Open Web Steel Joists
✓Steel joist must be field-bolted at the
column to provide lateral stability where
columns are not framed in at least two
directions

✓Hoisting cables must not be released until

joist is field-bolted and stabilized

✓Access onto joists by erectors must be

limited until braced
Hazard?
Setting joists with bridging
 Open Web Steel Joists

✓Steel joists and girders must not be used as

anchorage points for a fall arrest system
unless written approval to do so is
obtained from a qualified person

✓Bundles decking may not be placed on steel

joists until all bridging has been installed
& anchored and all joist bearing ends
attached unless a qualified person has
documented that the structure is capable
of supporting such load
 Falling Object Protection

✓All materials, equipment, and tools must

be secured against accidental
displacement

✓The controlling contractor must bar

other construction processes below
steel erection unless overhead
protection provided
 Fall Protection

✓Each employee engaged in steel erection

who is more than 15 feet above the
working surface must be provided
with means of fall
protection/prevention

✓Perimeter safety cables must be installed

as soon as metal decking is installed
 Fall Protection

✓Connectors must be protected at heights of

two stories or 30 feet

✓Have received connector fall training

✓Be provided, at heights over 15 and up to

30 feet with a personal fall arrest
system and wear the equipment
necessary to tie off
 “Connector” Defined

Connector means an employee who,

working with hoisting equipment, is placing
and connecting structural members and/or
components

Includes employees placing decking on

leading edges
Is this a hazard?
 Controlled Decking Zone
(CDZ)
✓CDZ may be established over 15 and up
to 30 foot fall exposures where
metal decking is initially being
installed and forms the “leading
edge” of a work

✓Access to the CDZ is limited to those

employees engaged in leading edge
work
 Controlled Decking Zone
(CDZ)
✓The boundaries of the CDZ must be
clearly designated and marked

✓Cannot be over 90 feet in width and

depth

✓Must be marked by control lines

 Controlled Decking Zone
(CDZ)
✓Each employee in the zone must have had
CDZ training

✓Unsecured decking must not exceed 3000

square feet

✓Final deck attachments and installation of

shear connectors must not be made
from the CDZ
Engineered leading edge fall protection
 Structural Steel
Assembly Training
✓All employees exposed to fall hazards must
be trained by a qualified person in the
following:
▪Recognition of fall hazards
▪Use of guardrail systems, personal fall
arrest systems, safety nets etc.
▪Procedures for erecting, maintaining,
disassembling and inspecting fall systems
▪Prevention of falls through holes, openings
 Structural Steel
Multi-Lift Training
✓Each employee who performs multiple lift
rigging must be trained in:

▪Nature of hazards associated with

multiple lifts

▪Proper procedures and equipment to

perform multiple lifts
 Structural Steel
Connector Training
✓The employer must ensure each connector
has been trained in the following:

▪Hazards associated with connecting

▪Proper connecting techniques and work
practices contained in this subpart
 Structural Steel
CDZ Training
✓Each employee working in a controlled
decking zone must be trained in:

▪The hazards of working within a CDZ

▪Proper installation techniques and
work practices
Questions and Discussion