Essential Impalement Safety Measures for Construction Workers

Because impalement incidents are often deadly, workplace hazard prevention and construction site safety are imperative. One of the most common impalement hazards is rebar. Deslauriers carries several types and sizes of rebar impalement safety covers to keep workers, site visitors and passersby safe. These covers are one of the easiest ways to implement impalement safety measures for construction sites. Proper tool and material storage and usage also go a long way in protecting people from suffering impalement and other injuries while on a construction site.  

One of the most significant threats to worker safety on construction sites is impalement hazards. Protruding objects, including rebar, reinforcement bars and stakes, can easily penetrate a worker’s body if the worker falls or even moves suddenly. Impalement hazards can cause catastrophic injuries and death; thus, it is imperative for everyone on the site to be aware of impalement hazards and to take the proper steps to reduce the risk of them.  

Ensuring workers follow OSHA regulations on construction sites is not enough. Businesses should also have impalement safety training to teach their workers the importance of wearing and using personal protective equipment construction. This construction safety training could easily save someone’s life, especially if a worker has little to no experience on a construction site.  
Impalement hazards and other hazards are not always in plain sight, and construction safety training goes a long way in providing the knowledge that people need to mitigate the dangers of impalement hazards.  

When workers better understand impalement hazards, it is easier to keep a construction site safer. Several areas of training can help workers understand impalement hazards, including regulatory compliance in construction, training in OSHA regulations construction, and other safety measures for construction sites.  

An impalement hazard refers to the risk of a worker being penetrated or punctured by protruding objects on the construction site. Inadequate safety protocols, improper storage of tools and materials, and dimly lit areas and other factors could contribute to impalement hazards.  

Some examples of impalement hazards include:  

• Rebar poking out of cement or being stored in open places
• Improperly stored materials, such as rebar
• Improperly store tools, including saws and other equipment
• Exposed nails
• Broken stakes  

You can mitigate impalement hazards by ensuring the following:  

• The area is always properly lit
• Workers store materials and tools properly
• Workers wear personal protective equipment
• Workers use protective equipment, such as rebar impalement safety covers
• Ensuring workspaces are not cluttered
• Eliminating distractions
• Installing proper signage and barricades when necessary

Addressing these root causes can significantly lower the risk of impalement hazards.  

Regulatory requirements can significantly mitigate impalement hazards. Entities such as OSHA have specific standards for workplaces, including construction sites. These regulations may also contain guidelines for the proper handling and storage of materials. They also include guidelines for placing protective barriers around protruding objects.  
Additionally, construction material manufacturers must also abide by industry standards to mitigate impalement hazards. When a manufacturer offers products that are compliant with OSHA and other regulations, they can also mitigate impalement hazards. 

In addition to OSHA regulations, the construction industry has safety standards that help protect construction workers against impalement hazards. The OSHA guidelines in 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M specify the requirements that protect workers from construction site impalement risks.  
The regulations cover proper storage of materials on the construction site, storing materials, and implementing safety training.  
Other industry standards for impalement hazards include the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which provides additional best practices and guidelines to ensure worker safety.  

All construction site workers should have the skills to identify and rectify impalement hazards.

All supervisory workers on a construction site should be able to assess impalement hazards by:  

• Conducting site inspections
• Performing risk assessments to evaluate the likelihood and severity of impalement injuries
• Conducting safety audits
• Encouraging workers to report impalement hazards they see
• Understanding and teaching safety standards and regulations
• Reviewing construction plans to identify design features that may be impalement hazards so you can address the hazards prior to the start of the project
• Training and educating workers, including implementing engineering and administrative controls and using personal protective equipment, such as rebar caps, hardhats,puncture-resistant gloves and other PPE
• Implementing controls such as covers for protruding elements, installing protective barriers, wearing PPE and establishing safety procedures
• Continuously monitoring the site for impalement hazards 

One of the biggest impalement hazards is falling on protruding rebar. Workers can fall off steps or even trip and fall onto protruding rebar. You can prevent impalement hazards by covering exposed rebar with our rebar protection caps and taking other regulatory compliance construction steps.  
You can also minimize the risk of fall injuries by adding railings to steps, even if the steps are just a few short steps, by installing guardrails. You can install temporary guardrails with our guardrail bases, stair grabbers, parapet grabbers and slab grabbers. 

Many safety training programs contain dry, boring material. You can make your training programs more effective by providing real-life scenarios and showing workers how to use PPE to minimize impalement hazards.  

When giving a safety training session, be sure to include Deslauriers products and give real-life examples of how to implement them. Show how the various rebar impalement safety covers work and how to install temporary guardrails on various types of steps and edges.  

When you use Deslauriers products to implement safety measures, you can significantly reduce impalement hazards by placing rebar impalement safety cover on all pieces of exposed rebar. They come in various sizes and comply with Federal OSHA 701(b). They are also approved by California OSHA #C1718AG and California OSHA 1723AG.  

When you develop and update safety plans and procedures for impalement hazards, you can significantly mitigate the risk of workers becoming impaled by exposed rebar and other impalement hazards. If you don’t have a plan, begin by assessing the site and identifying potential impalement risks to see where you need to install caps for protruding objects and protective barriers.  
Make sure you have clear handling and disposal procedures in place and provide ongoing training for your workers. Finally, your plan should have regular inspections and a review of safety measures built into it.  

Before you start a new project, take an inventory of your current rebar impalement covers and guardrail protection. If you don’t have enough, order the amount you need to make your workplace safe.

Our rebar impalement hazard protection is made of engineered high-impact plastic and has 16 square inches of top surface area to help protect against impalements. We also have T-post caps and flat stake caps to help protect workers.  
Our safety guardrail bases, stair grabbers, parapet grabbers and slab grabbers also meet or exceed OSHA standards.  
To learn more about rebar impalement covers and guardrail protection, visit Deslauriers safety pages or contact us for more information on ordering.