OSHA 30 Construction study guide
OSHA 30 Construction · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The OSHA 30-Hour Construction Outreach course is a voluntary training program administered through OSHA's Outreach Training Program. OSHA-authorized Outreach trainers - independent service providers, not OSHA employees - deliver the class, and students who attend and successfully complete the entire class, including all required topics and minimum contact hours, receive a student course completion card. The OSHA 30 Construction study guide has 10 sections and about 3,069 words.
01Introduction to OSHA
The Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 created OSHA and gave employers a dual obligation. Section 5(a)(1), the General Duty Clause, requires each employer to furnish a workplace free of recognized hazards that are causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm.
331 words, about 2 min02Focus Four Hazards: Falls
Falls are the leading cause of death in construction. The trigger height for most construction walking/working surfaces under 1926.501(b)(1) is 6 feet.
324 words, about 2 min03Focus Four Hazards: Struck-By
Struck-by injuries occur when a person is hit by a moving object: falling tools and materials, swinging crane loads, rolling pipe, flying fragments from a saw or nail gun, or a vehicle. Controls are layered.
302 words, about 2 min04Focus Four Hazards: Caught-In or Caught-Between
This Focus Four category covers injuries in which a person is squeezed, crushed, or drawn into a mechanism or a narrow space. The four common patterns are cave-ins of trenches and excavations, being pulled into rotating or moving machinery, being crushed between a piece of equipment and a fixed object, and being caught under or between materials and equipment.
288 words, about 1 min05Focus Four Hazards: Electrocution
Electrocution deaths in construction cluster around four sources: contact with overhead power lines by equipment, ladders, scaffolds, or long materials; contact with energized parts of tools and cords; faulty or damaged wiring and missing grounding; and failure to lock out and tag out. Shock also causes falls and burns, so an electrical question can be a fall question in disguise.
301 words, about 2 min06Personal Protective Equipment
PPE is the last line of defense in the hierarchy of controls, used when elimination, substitution, engineering controls, and administrative controls cannot fully remove the hazard. Employers must assess workplace hazards, select PPE that fits each affected employee, train on when it is necessary, what its limitations are, and how to don, doff, adjust, and care for it, and must replace defective equipment.
296 words, about 1 min07Health Hazards in Construction
Silica, asbestos, lead, noise, welding fume, carbon monoxide, heat, and chemical products. Respirable crystalline silica (1926.1153) is the most testable: an action level of 25 micrograms per cubic meter as an 8-hour TWA and a PEL of 50.
271 words, about 1 min08Scaffolds, Stairways, and Ladders
Scaffolds must be designed and erected under the supervision of a competent person, support four times the maximum intended load, be fully planked, and have guardrails, midrails, and toe boards. Fall protection is required at 10 feet.
321 words, about 2 min09Excavations and Trenching
1926.651 covers surface conditions and 1926.652 covers protective systems. A competent person must inspect excavations daily before work begins and after any rainstorm or event that could change conditions.
333 words, about 2 min10Cranes, Material Handling, and Tools
Subpart CC (1926.1400 series) governs construction cranes. Operators must be certified for the type of crane they run; signal persons and riggers must be qualified.
302 words, about 2 min