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The TriCore blog

Field notes on OSHA changes, jobsite hazards and what they mean for your crews.

OSHA & ComplianceFall Protection Tops OSHA's Top 10 for the 16th Straight Year
OSHA's preliminary FY2026 Top 10 puts 1926.501 first again with 4,041 violations. The full list, what 1926.501 and 1926.503 require, and why the ranking never moves.Read the post
Jobsite HazardsThe Hard Hat Standard Added Type I+ and Type II+. Here Is What Changes.ANSI/ISEA Z89.1-2026 adds optional Type I+ and Type II+ head protection classes built around chin strap and retention testing. What changed, what did not, and a five minute crew check.
Jobsite HazardsWhen the Safety Card Is Real and the Training Never HappenedA Brooklyn indictment over allegedly fake OSHA and site safety cards exposes a gap most contractors have: they verify that the card exists, never that the class did. Here is how to actually check.
OSHA & ComplianceWhat a Repeat OSHA Citation Means, and Why Your Prequal Misses ItOSHA proposed $265,868 against an Illinois contractor with two willful and nine repeat violations. What repeat requires, and why rate screens miss it.
Jobsite HazardsTwo Scaffold Collapses in One Day, Both During Setup and TeardownTwo scaffold incidents on September 7, 2026 both happened while the structure was being built or taken apart. What 1926.451(f)(7) and 1926.454(b) require in that window, and a checklist for the crew.
A $1.9 Billion Nuclear Restart, and the Qualification Bar Behind ItDOE closed a loan of up to $1.9 billion to restart Iowa's Duane Arnold plant for Google. The work is real, but the barrier to bidding it is documentation depth, not price.
Incident & InvestigationA Trench Box Protects the People Inside It. Nobody Else.A Michigan worker slid into a sewer excavation when the trench wall gave way beside a trench box. OSHA 1926.651(k)(1) covers the adjacent areas, and almost nobody inspects them.
IndustryNonresidential Construction Is Shrinking Everywhere Except Data CentersJuly construction spending fell 3.8 percent year over year. Strip out data centers and nonresidential hit its lowest level since September 2023, while craft unemployment hit a record low 3.1 percent.
Jobsite HazardsElectrocution Is Now the Top Killer on Powered Access EquipmentIPAF's 2026 global report puts electrocution ahead of falls from the platform and overturns. OSHA 1926.453 has no clearance table, and that is where crews get caught.
Jobsite HazardsYour Severe Weather Plan Is a Paragraph Nobody Has ReadThere is no general severe weather standard in Part 1926, which is why most jobsite weather plans are one unusable paragraph. Here is what OSHA does require and what a workable plan contains.
Jobsite HazardsTexas Programmed a Record $138 Billion and Cut Project Money 6.5 PercentThe 2027 Texas UTP headline is $138 billion. Only $95 billion is project money, down 6.5 percent from the 2026 plan. Here is what a tighter letting schedule does to bidding and to safety budgets.
Jobsite HazardsThe Retention Pond Nobody Put on the Hazard Assessment29 CFR 1926.106 is four paragraphs long, sets no depth threshold, and applies to far more construction sites than the crews on them realize. Here is what it requires and how to make the call.
The Work Is Concentrated. Prequalification Is How Owners Are Sorting It.July starts jumped 25.6 percent while architecture billings sat at 46.6 in the longest slump on record. Concentrated work means owners screen harder, and safety documentation is the screen.
IndustryWork Zone Intrusions: Cones Communicate, They Do Not ProtectRoughly three quarters of worker deaths at road construction sites involve a vehicle. Here is what 29 CFR 1926 Subpart G requires, what it does not cover, and how to plan for an intrusion.
Who Can Stop a Concrete Pour? Most Crews Cannot Name AnyoneA bridge deck failed during a pour in Maine and federal researchers were called in. The formwork standard is only half the story. The other half is who on the crew can say stop.
Safety Program ManagementA $250 Billion Infrastructure Pledge Just Landed. Your Safety Documentation Is the Constraint Nobody Is Pricing.Bank of America pledged $250 billion to US infrastructure over 18 months. Everyone is pricing the power and labor constraints. Almost nobody is pricing the safety prequalification gap.
OSHA & ComplianceOSHA Is Hearing Arguments to Kill the 2036 Fixed Ladder Deadline. Here Is What Changes and What Does Not.OSHA opens public hearings August 19 on more than 20 deregulatory proposals, including one that would delete the 2036 fixed ladder fall protection deadline. Here is what actually changes.
Jobsite HazardsTwo Workers Died in a Ten Foot Trench. The Rule That Protects Them Starts at Five Feet.A fatal trench collapse in Stockton killed two workers in a ten foot excavation in August 2026. Here is what the excavation standard requires, what the data shows, and a toolbox talk you can run tomorrow.
Safety Program ManagementOSHA Safe & Sound Week Is Over. Your Safety Program Is Not.Safe + Sound Week is a prompt, not a program. Here is a 30-day plan for turning one week of activity into something that is still running in November.
Leadership SkillsSafety Recognition Programs That Do Not Hide InjuriesOSHA built Safe + Sound Week 2026 around safety recognition programs. The most common version in construction rewards the absence of a number, and that is a problem.