In January of 2012 the Safety and Health Department launched several new initiatives designed to increase safety performance and“target the deadly dozen hazardous activities that lead to fatalities and disabling injuries."  The focus of this article is to highlight some of the serious hazards pertaining to “rebar columns and walls,” and to inform our members that the International Association is aggressively pursuing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to develop new safety regulations for the reinforcing steel industry.  The current OSHA Subpart Q – Concrete and Masonry standard that was written in 1971 is antiquated and only contains three (3) references specifically pertaining to reinforcing steel.   This OSHA standard does not adequately address specific workplace hazards associated with the reinforcing steel activities that our members encounter on the jobsite.   After close examination of OSHA fatality reports and information obtained by our International Association, these incident trends clearly indicate a direct correlation between accident causation factors and lack of specific OSHA regulations.  

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Contact: Steve Rank, Executive Director of Safety and Health, Iron Workers International; srank@iwintl.org or (800) 368-0105