Michigan Pushes Back Enforcement of Updated Concrete Construction Rule to Sept. 21
Michigan contractors have until Sept. 21 before the state begins enforcing its newly amended concrete construction standard, Safety+Health Magazine reports. Michigan OSHA (MIOSHA) amended Construction Standard 25, Concrete Construction, on June 22, but agreed to delay enforcement to give employers time to comply.
Market Impact
MIOSHA, which operates as a State Plan program under federal OSHA, launched its review after receiving requests to check whether the old rules still addressed hazards found on modern job sites. Some of the referenced voluntary standards dated back to 1983. The agency compared its standard against rules used in other states, brought in subject matter experts, and held a public hearing in March before finalizing the changes.
The amendments touch nearly every phase of concrete work. Updates cover reinforcing steel support and stability, mixing and pouring operations with new emphasis on suspended loads and worker exposure, and forms, shoring and reshoring, including new inspection and documentation requirements before concrete placement. The rule also revises language on flying forms operations, worker positioning, and rigging, adds site access and layout requirements to control hazards in active work areas, and clarifies equipment loading limits and manufacturer requirements for tendon tensioning. Employers must now also ensure and document that employees receive task-specific training from a qualified person on concrete construction hazards.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Concrete and formwork subcontractors operating in Michigan have until Sept. 21 to update jobsite procedures, documentation, and training records before MIOSHA begins enforcement.
- Review and revise shoring and reshoring inspection paperwork now. The amended standard requires documented inspections before concrete placement, so crews should build this into daily checklists ahead of the deadline.
- Update training records to show that a qualified person has covered task-specific hazards for reinforcing steel, flying forms, and tendon tensioning operations. Employers must be able to document this training, not just claim it occurred.
- Rigging and crane crews working with flying forms should confirm positioning and rigging procedures match the revised language before Sept. 21, since this is one of the areas MIOSHA specifically rewrote.
- Site supervisors should reassess access and layout controls in active work areas now, since the amended standard adds new requirements here that weren’t previously spelled out.
- Contractors bidding Michigan concrete work over the summer should factor the Sept. 21 enforcement date into project schedules and safety plans submitted to owners or GCs.
