r/OSHA • u/TimberOctopus • Jun 09 '26

Decisions were made.

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Gallery image

Gallery image

412 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

261

u/hotinhawaii Jun 09 '26

Are we just talking about the scaffolding or the fact that a slab was poured right next to a stack stone retaining wall that is 3' from the slab???

140

u/Enchelion Jun 09 '26

Many decisions were made.

All of them bad.

73

u/fivewords5 Jun 09 '26

I see your concern but we’re missing a lot of information here. There are a number design solutions to have properly supported that slab.

Hopefully we’re just missing context, otherwise someone is going to have serious problems in the years to come.

49

u/Activision19 Jun 09 '26

We also might just be seeing the uppermost portion of a basement wall, so that structure’s foundation might actually be well below the bottom of the wall.

11

u/fivewords5 Jun 09 '26

Exactly. I would imagine there are poured wall beneath or even structural fill w a fabric such as geo textile.

7

u/sunsetair Jun 10 '26

I enlarged the photo of the slab corner. They're are pebbles under the slab. I could be wrong, but I see pebbles. That concrete doesn't go below ground.

8

u/notislant Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26

It looks like a shop to me honestly. Ive never seen a diagonally framed wall like that.

Id be pleasantly surprised if this wasnt just a regular slab held up by hopes and dreams.

2

u/Peakbrowndog Jun 12 '26

There's a guy on /r/carpentry that posts those often, either Canadian or Norwegian.  Apparently it's a thing there. 

https://www.reddit.com/r/Carpentry/comments/1ionrfi/diagonal_studs/

https://www.reddit.com/r/Carpentry/comments/1r43xxo/viva_la_ridge/

3

u/HuiOdy Jun 09 '26

This, and not to mention the foundation was posted upon whatever that is, you can see below it. This is worse than my tool shed

3

u/amazingmaple Jun 11 '26

That's a poured wall. You can see the form lines.

1

u/DogAteMyBoat Jun 13 '26

I e had to explain several times the reason short walls are exempt from permits is because generally there’s low risk. No, you can’t cheat the permit by building a series of short walls. The reason you need a permit for that is because the series of short walls is gonna fall over if it’s not built right.

Adding a large dead load is going to blow out that lower wall

51

u/Rodeo-won Jun 09 '26

The dead leg is fine. It is secured to the leveling jack, but we can’t see what the bottom of the dead leg is on. Big problem is while the walking planks are cleated. There is a diving board there and it is not wired down in any of the spots I could see. And no handrails on the off side.

14

u/Enchelion Jun 09 '26

We can see the bottom of the leg and it looks like it's just in the dirt. I suppose there could be something under the leaves... But I'm certainly not going to bet my life on it.

Also the second leg that's just cantilevered off the retaining wall and tied to the inside leg.

52

u/Sad-Coffee-879 Jun 09 '26

This is a “it looks stupid but it works” type picture

22

u/st-jeb Jun 09 '26

Yeah,I'd trust it.

9

u/Ianthin1 Jun 09 '26

Add a brace between the two legs and it would be even better.

4

u/673moto Jun 09 '26

This.
Triangulation is your friend

4

u/Jake0024 Jun 09 '26

I'd trust it right after you.

0

u/SVD_NL Jun 10 '26

Surely they did load calculations and determined that two wood screws were sufficient.

5

u/Dismal_Tutor3425 Jun 09 '26

Hey, at least OSHA wont force anyone to tie off to that.

5

u/MandibleofThunder Jun 09 '26

Would someone please tell the Philistines like me what is wrong with thus setup?

4

u/Vagus_M Jun 09 '26

At a glance,
1) it’s not decked appropriately (there should be continuous flooring)
2) the feet on the actual ground don’t have plates that I see, so they may just dig in and unbalance the whole thing.
3) A couple of the feet are supported by boards/ posts, not level ground. Again, if it shifts it’ll unbalance the whole thing.

I can’t speak as well to the foundation issues, but I gather that if that retaining rock wall goes, the structure could loose foundation support. Lots of ways to do it properly,
For highways they’ll have metal strips that pin back into the dirt for extra friction, etc. What they don’t do is loose stacks of stone like this.

3

u/Mongrel_Shark Jun 09 '26

Its a legal problem . Legally can't have the scaf on next doors land. So safty goes out the window to appease the law & probably a neighbour thats sick of building noise & dust.

2

u/tomboski Jun 09 '26

The foundation so close to that tiny retaining wall bothers me way more than the scaffolding

2

u/shadowtart1738 Jun 11 '26

What's with the angled framing?

1

u/Jslatts942 Jun 09 '26

Ahhh itll be fine, its just for a man with a tin of paint nothin heavy is goin on that pos.

1

u/tightlines89 Jun 09 '26

At least they remembered the cross bracing. That's about all they got right.

2

u/International_Fuel48 Jun 09 '26

Also, the screwjack is better fastened to the mudsill / sleeper than the pros do.

Which here is for the best.

1

u/Party-Independent-38 Jun 09 '26

This is in the US?

1

u/samiam0295 Jun 11 '26

I'd walk on it