Safety of Working With Rebar

For field workers
Safety of
Working with
Rebar
제조업분야 교안
2015-교육미디어-799
Working with Risk Factors while
Rebar Working with
Rebar
Overview of Working with Rebar Risk Factors of Working with Rebar
Handling and Working with Rebar Safe Working with Rebar
Disaster Cases and Safety Measures
Safety of Working with

Rebar
Working with
Rebar
Overview of Working with Rebar
Handling and Working with Rebar

Rebar
Working with Rebar Overview of Working with Rebar Handling and Working with
Rebar
• In a reinforced concrete structure which is used in most construction sites such

as the apartment complexes, building, bridges and tunnels, the concrete has the
function of withstanding the compressive force while the rebar has the function
of withstanding the tensile force. The rebar construction work (rebar placing),
which is performed in parallel to form-shore work, is one of very important jobs
of construction.
• The rebar work is divided into receiving of rebar, processing of rebar, transport
and placinging (assembly). According to the work type and location, it can be
categorized into lifting/transport using crane, rebar manpower transport,
processing work using the cutter and press brake, and placing work with
foundation, column, crossbeam or slab at high places.
• Since the rebar work is part of structure work, it is generally exposed to outside
and can cause health hazard to worker in the summer or winter season. The
workers are also vulnerable to musculoskeletal disease when working with
transporting or handling heavy rebars.
Safety of Working with 4

Rebar
Rebar
1 Rebar work handles heavy objects
• The unit weight of a deformed bar (reinforcing steel bar) widely used in
construction sites is 0.56kg~15.9kg per meter. Since a bar is typically 8m,
the total weight of a rebar can be 4.48kg~127.2kg. As such, rebar work
such as transport and processing is considered as handling of heavy
object and exposed to risk factors such as falling and stabbing. It can also
cause the musculoskeletal disease.

Rebar
Rebar
2 Rebar work uses various construction machineries and tools

• Since it is difficult to handle the heavy objects such as rebar with manually work, the
construction machineries and tools such as the unloading/transporting machines or
lifting machines or the motorized tools such as the cutter and press brake to process
or assemble the rebar are generally used. Therefore, the work is exposed to
occupational hazard related to machineries and tools such as jamming, cutting, falling
and electric shock.
• Machineries and tools used during lifting, transporting and piling the rebar
- Unloading/transporting machineries such as the transporting truck and forklift
- Lifting machineries such as mobile crane, truck loaded crane (cargo crane) and tower
crane
• Machineries/tools used for handling, cutting, welding

or fusing of rebar
- Rebar cutter and rebar press brake
(supported, mobile or portable)
- Gas welding, cutting machine, high speed cutter
- Rebar binding tool

Rebar
Risk Factors while
Working with
Rebar
Risk Factors of Working with Rebar
Safe Working with Rebar
Disaster Cases and Safety Measures

Rebar
Risk Factors while Working with Rebar Risk Factors of Working with Safe Working with Disaster Cases
Rebar Rebar
1 Risk factors during receipt, piling and transport of rebar
• Rebar being dropped after the rebar pile support is broken
• Rebar being dropped after it crashes into the truck or nearby structure or
obstacle during unloading
• Rebar being dropped on a nearby worker after it breaks away during lifting
• Forklift operator crashing into the rebar due to careless operation during
unloading
• Forklift crashing with a nearby worker during turning without a conductor
• Reversing forklift crashing with a nearby worker due to the failure to install
the warning light behind the forklift

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
2 Risk factors during handling of rebar
• Electric shock during working with rebar cutter
• Musculoskeletal disease caused by manual transport of large amount of

rebars
• Rebar being dropped due to the rupture of rope during lifting of rebar
• Piled rebars crashing down after impact or loss of balance
• Rebar being dropped due to breakaway of rope due to failure to install the
hook release system during lifting of rebar
• Rebar being dropped during lifting by a tower crane

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
3 Risk factors during assembly of rebar
• Tumbling after sticking of a foot between the rebars whiling manually

transporting rebars
• Tripping as the rebar structure is bent while lifting the preassembled rebars
with a tower crane
• Sidewall rebar collapsing due to the strong wind after the high position
sidewall rebar is assembled
• Falling after carelessly stepping on the assembled wall or column rebar
• Falling after breakage of wooden plate used as the support

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
1 Safety measures for receipt, piling and transport of rebar
Protective measures against high voltage power lines near the work site
• Check the power lines within the operating radius and plan the safe work method
before the work.
• Move the charged power line if possible.
• Install the measures to prevent electric shock.
• Install the insulating protective measures against the charged power line.
Implementation of measures to prevent falling objects during material lifting

• Always tighten the rebars with two ropes. Lift the rebars for about 1m from the
ground and check fastening and balancing of center of gravity to prevent falling and
then slowly lift the rebars.
• Restrict in/out of workers within the danger circle in the transporting path of the
lifted object during material lifting and transport.
• Educate the operators of crane and lifting equipment to slowly lift and turn the
machines.

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Rebar Rebar
Inspection of lifting rope and rope tightening before lifting work
• When using wire rope for lifting, do not use following ropes:
- Rope having seams
- 10% or more wires cut off in a strand of the wire rope
- Decrease of diameter increasing 7% of nominal diameter
- Rope that is twisted or severely deformed or rusted
• When using fiber rope or fiber belt for lifting, do not use following ropes:
- Strand being cut off
- Tope that is severely deformed or rusted
• Make sure that the lifting rope has sufficient strength and there is no load
to the steel wire.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
Safety measures for working with forklift or truck to unload and transport
• Set the speed limit according to the geographical features and ground
condition of work site and comply with it.
• Restrict Workers in/out is restricted and the conductor is assigned in the

potential operation path.
• Balance the loaded freights

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
2 Vertical rebar assembly

Generation of rebar detail drawings and installation in consideration of safety
and workability
• When generating the rebar detail drawings for large structures such as the
retaining wall, abutment and bridge, the vertical rebars which are extended
from the foundation to a wall or column should be designed so that the
installed rebars are as short as possible in consideration of the shape of
structure or diameter of the steel bar.
• If the rebar for wall or column is too high, it can fall because of its easily
bending thus weak self-supporting property. Therefore, the vertical rebar
installed on the foundation should be as short as possible and the wall or
column rebars are assembled after the foundation concrete is sufficiently
cured.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
2 Vertical rebar assembly
Support to prevent tumbling of rebar
• Construction of anchor to prevent tumbling of rebar

- Install the support (anchor, etc.) to prevent tumbling of rebar with steel
reinforcement, etc. and then deposit concrete.
- If the column rebar is supported with fiber belts, wire ropes, etc., install them in
4 directions (X shape) diagonally so that they can be balanced.
- If the wall rebar is supported by the steel pipe, et., maintain a specific interval in
both directions symmetrically.
Prohibition of pilling of heavy objects such as wall or column rebar on top

of the foundation rebar
• As the assembled foundation rebar is structurally unstable and especially

vulnerable to horizontal force, piling the heavy object on top of putting
rebar is prohibited.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
3 Tunnel rebar assembly
Increased risk factors according to tunnel shape
• Increased risk factor due to the knurling shape

• In the case of large cross sectional tunnel where the width is relatively large
compared to height, the rebar may droop down on workers because of its weight
during assemble of rebar of tunnel lining concrete.
Precision construction of anchor to support rebar
• For the large cross sectional tunnel construction, install sufficiently number of
waterproof sheet attached support anchors on the waterproof sheet with
consideration to the weight and allowed pullout force of the anchor.
• When installing the anchors, the attached length (embedded length) of the
anchor should be longer than the manufacturer’s suggested length, and the
filling materials should be compactly injected. After reclamation, the pullout force
test should be conducted to check if it can withstand the required pullout force.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar
4 Piling of rebar on top of slab molding, etc.
Avoidance of excessive piling of rebars on top of slab molding, etc.
• If the excessive rebars are piled on top of slab molding for rebar placing
after the mold bearing is assembled, the weight of rebars may be
concentrated on the strut particularly if the rebar strut (rectangular) is
placed only on both ends. It will result in collapse as the bottom pipe
support of the strut cannot support the top load.
• Do not pile the rebars excessively on top of molding and install the strut in
the interval of 1~1.5m to distribute the piling load.
Prohibition of excessive piling in one span of deck plate or ferro deck
• A deck plate or ferro deck is the zinc galvanized steel plate. Since the deck
may be bent and collapse if too much weight is loaded, no excessive
amount of rebar should be stacked, and the weight should be distributed
throughout the steel beam in a steel-frame structure.

Rebar
Disaster Cases
Case 1: A worker falling down while installing a mobile scaffold for rebar placing
Case 2: A worker missing his footing while stepping on a scaffold and falling down
Case 3: A worker falling through an opening between safety handrails without
the middle bar during rebar placing
Case 4: A worker falling through a bottom opening after only 1 column of walk
plate is installed in a wide scaffold structure
Case 5: Earth and sand collapsing during placing new retaining wall rebars under
the existing retaining wall
Case 6: Top rebars collapsing during placing of rebars for a mat foundation
Case 7: A worker buried under a collapsed wall molding while working with
a U drain
Case 8: A worker buried under fallen rebars piled on a stand
Case 9: A worker buried under the vertical rebars of the bridge abutment
Case 10: A worker stabbed by an exposed rebar while moving to another work site
Electrical Use Safety

Risk Factors while Working with Rebar Risk Factors of Working with
Safe Working with Disaster
Rebar Rebar Cases
The accident occurred on a new school construction site. A worker was installing the walk plate for 2-layer mobile scaffold to
assemble the rebar for basement wall. He installed the first layer and inserted a frame of the second layer into a pin that connects the
first layer and second layer while standing on the walk plate of the first layer and turned around to install the frame of the second
layer in the other side. In that instant, he lost the balance and hit the rebars and concrete to install the underground water tank
around 1.7m below and was killed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
2 Safety Measures
Measures to prevent falling during the assembly of mobile scaffold
• When assembling a mobile scaffold, the rope to

hook the safety belt must be installed first and the
worker must hook the safety belt to it while working
until the safety handrails are installed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 2: A worker missing his footing while stepping on a scaffold and

falling down
The accident occurred on a new neighboring facility construction site. A worker finished assembly of column rebars on top of a five-
story outside scaffold walk plate and coming down to the slab floor. He then slipped through the walk plat on top of the scaffold
and intermediate handrails (H=45cm) and hit the asphalt concrete bottom on the ground (H≒18m) to be killed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 2: A worker missing his footing while stepping on a scaffold and

falling down
2 Safety Measures
Installation of safe temporary path
• The safe temporary path should be installed so that the worker are protected
from falling or tripping while moving on the walk plate on top of the scaffold.
And the safe path should always be maintained to be safe to work.
Compliance with safety net installation regulation
• When installing a safety net to prevent falling, it should comply with the
regulation (Occupational Safety and Health Rule) which specifies that the safety
net should be maintained of 20° or 30° angle with the horizontal surface, that
the distance from the wall should be at least 2m, and that the net should be
installed for every height of less than 10m.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 3: A worker falling through an opening between safety handrails

without the middle bar during rebar placing
The accident occurred on a new factory construction site. A worker was placing the rebars for second floor deck
plate in the factory building. He fell through an opening (1.5m×1.5m) that did not have the middle safety handrail
and hit the bottom 5m below to be killed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 3: A worker falling through an opening between safety handrails

without the middle bar during rebar placing
2 Safety Measures
Safety handrails complying with regulation should be installed on the side or bottom
opening.
• Top handrails: To be installed on 90cm~120cm from

the bottom
• Middle handrails: To be installed in the middle of the

top handrails and bottom
• If the top handrails are installed 120cm or above, two or

more middle handrails should be installed in equal
space, and the space between the top and bottom
handrails should be 60cm or less.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 4: A worker falling through a bottom opening after only 1 column

of walk plate is installed in a wide scaffold structure
The accident occurred on a construction site to make an agricultural reservoir embankment higher. A worker was assembling the
rebars for a retaining wall of a side waterway on a walk plate to on top of a 3-layer scaffold. He lost the balance and fell through the
opening (width ≒ 40cm) on the other side of the walk plate and hit the concrete (height ≒5 .4m) to be killed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 4: A worker falling through a bottom opening after only 1 column

of walk plate is installed in a wide scaffold structure
2 Safety Measures
Installation of walk plate with no opening
• If the distance between the inside column and outside

column of a scaffold is 90cm or more, the walk plate
should be installed in two or three columns so that
there is no opening to the bottom.
Installation of safety handrails in compliance with regulation
• The top safety handrails should be installed at

around 90~120cm from the walk plate, and the
middle handrails should be installed between the
top handrails and walk plate.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 5: Earth and sand collapsing during placing new retaining wall
rebars under the existing retaining wall
The accident occurred on a building construction site. 3 workers were placing the bottom plate rebar for a new concrete retaining
wall being installed to reinforce the existing retaining wall of the boundary with a neighboring factory. The earth exposed at the
bottom of the ground of the existing retaining wall collapsed (around 6m3, 12 ton) on the workers leading to two people dead and
one person injured.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 5: Earth and sand collapsing during placing new retaining wall
rebars under the existing retaining wall
2 Safety Measures
※ If the ground reinforcing
Compliance with measures to prevent dangers such as collapse of
work on the side of existing
foundation
retaining wall is difficult
because of interference with
• If there is a danger to the workers by collapsed ground
underground septic tank, etc.
during excavation work such as retaining wall bed of the neighboring factory,
excavation, the protective measures such as sheathing there may be a need to
timbering should be installation before the work. supplement the design such
as constructing the reinforcing
Pre-inspection and generation of work plan retaining wall on the existing
bottom retaining wall.
• When excavating the ground with height of cutting
surface being 2m or more, the geographical feature
and ground condition should be inspected first, and the
work plan should be generated based on the
inspection and the work should be performed
according to the plan.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
The accident occurred on a new apartment complex construction site. Two workers were working inside
the mat foundation to place the 2nd basement wall rebars when the top rebars of the mat foundation
collapsed on the worker leading to one person dead and one person injured.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
2 Safety Measures
Ensuring safety of structure of facility
• A mat foundation rebars are in unstable condition until the concrete is deposited and
mat foundation is completed. If many materials are piled and workers work on top and
bottom, there is the danger of collapse due to lack of support and unbalanced load. As it
is difficult to handle the heavy objects such as rebars manually, the machineries and tools
such as the transporting equipment, lifting system or cutting machine and press brake
are generally used. As such, there is a high risk of accidents such as being jammed, cut,
dropped and electric shock related to machines and tools. Following measures are
needed to ensure the safety of the structure:
- Maintain the support rebar spacing recommended by construction specification.
- Use the support rebar using the material with sufficient support strength.,
- Install the bracing between the top and bottom rebars to withstand the horizontal force.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
2 Safety Measures
Compliance with safe work method
• Workers working below the rebars during

the assembly of mat foundation rebars is
vulnerable to accident by collapsed rebars. In
that case, assemble the top rebars after
assembling the wall rebars to avoid working
inside the rebars.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 7: A worker buried under a collapsed wall molding while working

with a U drain
The accident occurred in the drainage facility enhancing construction site. A worker was working on foundation of U
drain (1.2m×1.0m) and assembly of wall rebars. The existing outer wall molding collapsed toward inside and fell on
the worker leading to the worker being killed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 7: A worker buried under a collapsed wall molding while working

with a U drain
2 Safety Measures
Measures to prevent collapsing of mold
• As the temporarily installed mold can

easily fall down, the firm form tier or
support should be installed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
The accident occurred on a new church construction site. While a worker was placing the foundation rebars, the
rebar stand collapsed and the rebars fell on the worker leading to the worker being killed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
2 Safety Measures
Installation of stand of piled rebars in consideration load distribution
• As the rebars are typically 6~12m long before they are cut or processed,
they can be easily bent and a bundle of rebars can weigh around 1 ton.
Therefore, install multiple supports or disperse the rebars so that the rebar
weight is not concentrated on 2~3 areas.
Improvement of work method and strict supervision
• When removing or disassembling the bottom support of the stand of rebars,

move the rebars to another area, where there is no risk of rebars falling or
collapsing before the work.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
The accident occurred on a road expansion and pavement construction site. While 9 workers were assembling top
rebars of abutment foundation, the abutment wall vertical rebars (7.3~8m long) collapsed around 6 ton vertical
rebars fell on the workers leading to 1 being killed and 1 being injured.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
2 Safety Measures
Measures to prevent falling of rebars and ensure firm binding
• When assembling long vertical rebars which can fall down, the steel pipe, fiber
rope, etc. should be used to fasten the rebars and provide self-sufficiency to
ensure safety in consideration of weight, load, wind pressure, vibration and
impact in order to prevent falling down.
• The vertical rebars installed in the foundation without concrete shall have the
fundamental safety measures such as working with shorter rebars to provide
self-sufficiency for preventing falling down.
Strict supervision of dangerous work
• When assembling the long vertical rebars which can easily fall down, strict
supervision including the detailed work method and order should be given to
the relevant workers.
Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 10: A worker stabbed by an exposed rebar while moving to

another work site
The accident occurred on a government building construction site. A worker was taking a break from top slab rebar
assembly work in the mechanical room on the first basement level . He left the site and stepped on a top slab shear
(50cm) in the ventilation room on the first basement level and slipped then stabbed in the right armpit by a wall
vertical rebar (10mm diameter and 700mm protruded length) to be killed.

Rebar
Rebar Rebar Cases
Case 10: A worker stabbed by an exposed rebar while moving to

another work site
2 Safety Measures
Securing safe work path
• In the work site exposed to dangers such as falling down, tripping and slipping,
the path for worker movement should be secured, and the path which has shear,
opening or slippery bottom should have the temporary step, crossing bridge,
walk plate, etc.
Measures to prevent being stabbed by protruded object such as rebar
• The protruded side of vertical rebar for wall should be capped to prevent being
stabbed.
Emergency measures after accident
• In the case of accident such as being stabbed by an object like rebar, the object
should be cut off, not arbitrarily pulled out, and the victim should be
immediately transported to a hospital for emergency measures.

Rebar
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Safety of Working With Rebar

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For field workers

Handling and Working with Rebar Safe Working with Rebar

Disaster Cases and Safety Measures

Safety of Working with

Overview of Working with Rebar

Handling and Working with Rebar

Safety of Working with

• In a reinforced concrete structure which is used in most construction sites such

Safety of Working with 4

1 Rebar work handles heavy objects

Safety of Working with 5

2 Rebar work uses various construction machineries and tools

• Machineries/tools used for handling, cutting, welding

Safety of Working with 6

Risk Factors of Working with Rebar

Safe Working with Rebar

Disaster Cases and Safety Measures

Safety of Working with

1 Risk factors during receipt, piling and transport of rebar

• Rebar being dropped after the rebar pile support is broken

• Forklift crashing with a nearby worker during turning without a conductor

Safety of Working with 8

2 Risk factors during handling of rebar

• Electric shock during working with rebar cutter

• Musculoskeletal disease caused by manual transport of large amount of

• Piled rebars crashing down after impact or loss of balance

• Rebar being dropped during lifting by a tower crane

Safety of Working with 9

3 Risk factors during assembly of rebar

• Tumbling after sticking of a foot between the rebars whiling manually

• Falling after carelessly stepping on the assembled wall or column rebar

• Falling after breakage of wooden plate used as the support

Safety of Working with 10

1 Safety measures for receipt, piling and transport of rebar

Implementation of measures to prevent falling objects during material lifting

Safety of Working with 11

1 Safety measures for receipt, piling and transport of rebar

Inspection of lifting rope and rope tightening before lifting work

Safety of Working with 12

1 Safety measures for receipt, piling and transport of rebar

• Restrict Workers in/out is restricted and the conductor is assigned in the

• Balance the loaded freights

Safety of Working with 13

2 Vertical rebar assembly

Safety of Working with 14

2 Vertical rebar assembly

Support to prevent tumbling of rebar

• Construction of anchor to prevent tumbling of rebar

Prohibition of pilling of heavy objects such as wall or column rebar on top

• As the assembled foundation rebar is structurally unstable and especially

Safety of Working with 15

3 Tunnel rebar assembly

Increased risk factors according to tunnel shape

• Increased risk factor due to the knurling shape

Precision construction of anchor to support rebar

Safety of Working with 16

4 Piling of rebar on top of slab molding, etc.

Avoidance of excessive piling of rebars on top of slab molding, etc.

Prohibition of excessive piling in one span of deck plate or ferro deck

Safety of Working with 17

Electrical Use Safety

Safety of Working with 19

Measures to prevent falling during the assembly of mobile scaffold