Masonry Wall Toolbox Talk
A masonry wall that is up but not braced is not a wall yet. It is a very heavy thing standing on its own edge, and the standard treats it that way.
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The talk, read this out
How tall is the wall going up today? Add four feet to that number and hold it, because that is the distance we are about to talk about.
There is one rule in this standard that most masons have never heard said out loud, and it is a distance. A limited access zone shall be established whenever a masonry wall is being constructed. Whenever. Not on tall walls, not on windy days. Whenever.
The zone shall be equal to the height of the wall to be constructed plus four feet, and shall run the entire length of the wall. So a ten foot wall gets a fourteen foot zone, end to end. Not a cone at the corner. A strip the whole length of the work.
It goes on the side of the wall which will be unscaffolded, which is the side nobody is standing on and therefore the side nobody thinks about. That is deliberate. An unbraced wall falls the way nothing is holding it, and the standard puts the empty strip exactly there.
It gets established prior to the start of construction of the wall, not once the wall is tall enough to worry about. Before the first course.
And it is restricted to entry by employees actively engaged in constructing the wall. No other employees shall be permitted to enter the zone. That is everyone else on this site: the laborer fetching block, the electrician running a cable, the man walking through because it is the short way.
The zone stays until the wall is adequately supported to prevent overturning and to prevent collapse. For a wall over eight feet, it stays until the bracing requirement has been met, which is a separate and harder test.
All masonry walls over eight feet in height shall be adequately braced to prevent overturning and to prevent collapse, unless the wall is adequately supported so that it will not overturn or collapse. And the bracing shall remain in place until permanent supporting elements of the structure are in place.
Until the permanent supports are in. Not until the mortar has gone off, not until it looks solid, not until the end of the shift. A green wall braced on Friday and stripped on Monday because the bracing was in the way is the exact scenario the last sentence of this standard was written to stop.
Point at these before anybody starts
A talk delivered in a trailer is a meeting. Stand where the work is and put a hand on each of these.
- The height of the wall going up, plus four feet, paced out on the unscaffolded side.
- Whether that strip is actually marked, or whether it exists only in a conversation.
- Every trade whose route to work crosses it, and whether anybody has told them.
- Any material, mixer, cart or generator stored inside the zone.
- Every wall over eight feet already standing, and whether its bracing is still there.
- Wind. A partly built wall on an open site is a sail with nothing behind it.
The rules that apply
- A limited access zone shall be established whenever a masonry wall is being constructed, prior to the start of construction of the wall.
- The limited access zone shall be equal to the height of the wall to be constructed plus four feet, shall run the entire length of the wall, and shall be established on the side of the wall which will be unscaffolded.
- The limited access zone shall be restricted to entry by employees actively engaged in constructing the wall. No other employees shall be permitted to enter the zone.
- The zone shall remain in place until the wall is adequately supported to prevent overturning and collapse, and where the wall is over eight feet, until the bracing requirement has been met.
- All masonry walls over eight feet in height shall be adequately braced to prevent overturning and collapse unless adequately supported, and the bracing shall remain in place until permanent supporting elements of the structure are in place.
Ask the crew
Three questions, answered out loud by name. This is the part that tells you whether anybody was listening.
- How wide is the zone for the wall we are building, and which side does it go on?
- Who is allowed inside it?
- When can the bracing come off a nine foot wall?
Close with this
Height plus four, the whole length, the empty side. Then nobody is standing where it lands.
A talk nobody signed for is a talk that, as far as anybody can later prove, never happened. Use the free toolbox meeting sign in sheet in PDF, Word or Excel, or print the PDF above, which already has the signature lines on it.
Questions people ask
Does a short wall need a limited access zone?
Yes. 1926.706(a) says whenever a masonry wall is being constructed, with no height threshold. Height changes the size of the zone, because it is wall height plus four feet, and it changes when the zone can be lifted, because over eight feet the bracing test applies. It does not change whether you need one.
What counts as adequately braced?
The standard sets the duty and not the design, which means it is an engineering answer for that wall, that height, that block and that exposure. In practice it comes from the bracing plan, and the industry reference most contractors work to is the Mason Contractors Association standard for bracing masonry walls during construction.
Can the zone be on the scaffold side if that is easier?
No. 1926.706(a)(3) puts it on the side which will be unscaffolded, and the reason is mechanical rather than administrative. The scaffold side has something against it. The open side is where an unbraced wall goes, so that is where nobody stands.
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TOOLBOX TALK: MASONRY WALLS
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