Scope: This standard provides the requirements for operations preparing the site.

Special Requirements: Engineering survey, competent person, evidence (writing), utility company notified, determined (hazards), testing, posted signs

1926.850(a) - Prior to permitting employees to start demolition operations, an engineering survey shall be made, by a competent person, of the structure to determine the condition of the framing, floors, and walls, and possibility of unplanned collapse of any portion of the structure. Any adjacent structure where employees may be exposed shall also be similarly checked. The employer shall have in writing evidence that such a survey has been performed.

1926.850(c) -  All electric, gas, water, steam, sewer, and other service lines shall be shut off, capped, or otherwise controlled, outside the building line before demolition work is started. In each case, any utility company which is involved shall be notified in advance.

1926.850(e) - It shall also be determined if any type of hazardous chemicals, gases, explosives, flammable materials, or similarly dangerous substances have been used in any pipes, tanks, or other equipment on the property. When the presence of any such substances is apparent or suspected, testing and purging shall be performed and the hazard eliminated before demolition is started.

1926.850(h) - When debris is dropped through holes in the floor without the use of chutes, the area onto which the material is dropped shall be completely enclosed with barricades not less than 42 inches high and not less than 6 feet back from the projected edge of the opening above. Signs, warning of the hazard of falling materials, shall be posted at each level. Removal shall not be permitted in this lower area until debris handling ceases above.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for stairs, passageways and ladders.

Special Requirements: Designated access, inspected, illumination

1926.851(a) - Only those stairways, passageways, and ladders, designated as means of access to the structure of a building, shall be used. Other access ways shall be entirely closed at all times.

1926.851(b) - All stairs, passageways, ladders and incidental equipment thereto, which are covered by this section, shall be periodically inspected and maintained in a clean safe condition.

1926.851(c) - In a multistory building, when a stairwell is being used, it shall be properly illuminated by either natural or artificial means, and completely and substantially covered over at a point not less than two floors below the floor on which work is being performed, and access to the floor where the work is in progress shall be through a properly lighted, protected, and separate passageway.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for chutes.

Special Requirements: Competent employee (assigned), designed

1926.852(c) - A substantial gate shall be installed in each chute at or near the discharge end. A competent employee shall be assigned to control the operation of the gate, and the backing and loading of trucks.

1926.852(g) - Chutes shall be designed and constructed of such strength as to eliminate failure due to impact of materials or debris loaded therein.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for the removal of materials through floor openings.

Special Requirements: Load

Any openings cut in a floor for the disposal of materials shall be no larger in size than 25 percent of the aggregate of the total floor area, unless the lateral supports of the removed flooring remain in place. Floors weakened or otherwise made unsafe by demolition operations shall be shored to carry safely the intended imposed load from demolition operations.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for the removal of walls, masonry sections, and chimneys.

Special Requirements: Stable (each shift), designed, references other standards

1926.854(b) - No wall section, which is more than one story in height, shall be permitted to stand alone without lateral bracing, unless such wall was originally designed and constructed to stand without such lateral support, and is in a condition safe enough to be self-supporting. All walls shall be left in a stable condition at the end of each shift.

1926.854(d) - Structural or load-supporting members on any floor shall not be cut or removed until all stories above such a floor have been demolished and removed. This provision shall not prohibit the cutting of floor beams for the disposal of materials or for the installation of equipment, provided that the requirements of 1926.853 - removal of materials through floor openings, and 1926.855 - manual removal of floors, are met.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for the removal of walls, floors, and material with equipment.

Special Requirements: References other standards

1926.856(c) - Cranes, derricks, and other mechanical equipment. Employers must meet the requirements specified in subpart N - helicopters, hoists, elevators, and conveyors, subpart O - Motor Vehicles, Mechanized Equipment, and Marine Operations, and subpart CC - cranes and derricks in construction, of this part.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements pertaining to storage. 

Special Requirements: Floor loads

1926.857(a) - The storage of waste material and debris on any floor shall not exceed the allowable floor loads.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for the removal of steel construction.

Special Requirements: References other standards

1926.858(a) - When floor arches have been removed, planking in accordance with 1926.855(b) - manual removal of floors, shall be provided for the workers engaged in razing the steel framing.

1926.858(b) - Cranes, derricks, and other hoisting equipment. Employers must meet the requirements specified in subpart N - helicopters, hoists, elevators, and conveyors and subpart CC - cranes and derricks in construction of this part.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for mechanical demolition.

Special Requirements: Rated load

1926.859(b) - The weight of the demolition ball shall not exceed 50 percent of the crane's rated load, based on the length of the boom and the maximum angle of operation at which the demolition ball will be used, or it shall not exceed 25 percent of the nominal breaking strength of the line by which it is suspended, whichever results in a lesser value.

Scope: This standard provides the requirements for demolition by explosives. 

Special Requirements: References other standards

Selective demolition by explosives shall be conducted in accordance with the applicable sections of subpart U - blasting and use of explosives, of this part.