Am I In Danger?

Unguarded protruding steel reinforcing bars are hazardous. Even if you just stumble onto an unguarded rebar you can impale yourself, resulting in serious internal injuries or death. View Rebar Accident.

How Do I Avoid Hazards?

• Guard all protruding ends of steel rebar with rebar caps or wooden troughs, or
• Bend rebar so exposed ends are no longer upright.
• When employees are working at any height above exposed rebar, fall protection/prevention is the first line of defense against impalement.

Rebar Caps

The OSHA Standard requires that rebar "be guarded to eliminate the hazard of impalement." Not all guards provide that level of protection. In some circumstances, the force of a fall can cause rebar to push clear through a plastic cap and still impale a worker, or the worker can be impaled by the rebar and the cap together.
Only rebar caps designed to provide impalement protection, such as those containing steel reinforcement, should be used.
This type of cap positions a 2 x 4 over the exposed rebar, and has been approved by California OSHA.

Additional Information:

• 29 CFR 1926 Subpart Q, Concrete and masonry construction. OSHA Standard.
  • 1926.701, General requirements
    • 1926.701(b), Reinforcing steel
• Mushroom Style Plastic Rebar Covers Used for Impalement Protection. OSHA Standard Interpretation, (1997, May 29).
• Worker Deaths by Falls: A Summary of Surveillance Findings and Investigative Case Reports. US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Publication 2000-116, (2000, September).