All provinces and territories · Editable Word template

Concrete, formwork and steel erection safety manual template

A complete written health and safety program for foundation and flatwork contractors, formwork and shoring crews, rebar placers, concrete placing and pumping, precast and tilt-up erectors, structural steel and metal deck erectors, and concrete cutting and coring, wherever in Canada the job is. It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements and written for the work: formwork and falsework design and inspection, shoring, stripping and reshoring, pumps and placing booms, cement burns, rebar impalement, post-tensioning, precast and tilt-up, connecting steel, metal deck, fall protection at slab edges and on steel, crane lifts and rigging, welding, cutting and coring, powder-actuated tools and winter concreting. Section 15 sets out the law of every province and territory, and federal workplaces, side by side, with each jurisdiction’s formwork, engineer, pre-pour inspection, steel erection, crane operator, lift plan and pump rules. It arrives as an editable Word file you make your own.

A look inside

Sample pages from the manual, marked and cut short. Your copy has no watermark.

Cover with room for your logo and company name

Linked table of contents, laid out on the 14 national COR elements plus a section on working across Canada

Section 3: twenty safe work practices written for concrete, formwork and steel crews, formwork design and inspection shown

Section 15: each jurisdiction's formwork engineering and pre-pour inspection rules, steel erection, crane and pump rules

Appendix A: all 74 documentation questions of the national COR elements mapped

Print-ready plans and forms: the pre-pour formwork inspection shown

What’s in the manual

1. Safety and health policy

A signed, dated policy, the written program, and responsibilities for management, foremen, form setters, finishers, rebar placers, pump operators, ironworkers, connectors, welders and signallers, and how we work under the prime contractor and the engineer.

2. Hazard assessment, analysis and control

Formal hazard assessments by stage and type of work, the 5 × 5 risk matrix, a critical task inventory, and the site hazard assessment for concrete and steel work.

3. Safe work practices

Twenty practices for concrete and steel: formwork design and inspection, shoring and stripping, pumps and booms, buckets and chutes, cement burns, rebar, post-tensioning, precast and tilt-up, connecting, decking, fall protection, crane lifts, welding, cutting and coring, powder-actuated tools, silica, access equipment, winter concreting and heat.

4. Safe job procedures

Step-by-step procedures for inspecting formwork before a pour, setting up a pump near power lines, clearing a line blockage, stripping and reshoring a slab, connecting a beam, laying out metal deck, wet-cutting concrete and bracing a tilt-up or precast panel.

5. Company safety rules

Life-saving rules for concrete and steel (no pour before the formwork is released, caps on every rebar end, tied off on the steel, never under a suspended load), and a progressive discipline process applied the same way every time.

6. Personal protective equipment

Fall arrest for connectors and slab edges, alkali-resistant gloves and boots for wet concrete, welding PPE, respirators for silica, and the rest of the basic PPE.

7. Preventative maintenance program

Shoring and form systems, pumps, booms and lines, rigging and below-the-hook devices, cutting and coring equipment, and heaters.

8. Training and communication

Formwork and pump training, crane operators and signallers, connectors and fall protection, welders, and orientation for every worker on site.

9. Inspections

Pre-pour formwork inspections, pump set-up checks, rigging inspections, and site inspections at each stage.

10. Investigations and reporting

Formwork failures, pump line whipping, falls from the steel, dropped loads and power line contacts reported and investigated.

11. Emergency preparedness

A formwork collapse, a suspended worker, a crane or pump contact with a power line, cement burns, carbon monoxide, and first aid on site.

12. Statistics, records and document control

Formwork drawings and pre-pour releases, lift plans, pump checklists, erection plans and rigging inspections, kept for the longest period any jurisdiction requires.

13. Legislation

OHS law, the CSA falsework, scaffolding, crane and fall protection standards, the engineer’s drawings, and the right to refuse.

14. Procurement and contractor management

Crane, pump and engineering subcontractors, ready-mix suppliers, and buying forms, shoring and rigging.

15. Working across Canada

Whose law applies, then every province and territory and federal workplaces side by side: the act and regulation, the regulator, formwork and the engineer, pre-pour inspection, steel erection, crane operators and lift plans, concrete pumps, and serious incidents to report and how fast.

Appendix A. COR cross-reference

Every one of the 74 documentation questions in the 14 national COR elements, what it looks for in plain words, the section that answers it, and whether the auditor will also want your records.

Appendix B. Forms

37 print-ready forms that match the manual, each with a form code: among them the concrete and steel site hazard assessment, pre-pour formwork inspection, crane lift plan, concrete pump set-up checklist, steel erection and fall protection plan and rigging inspection.

Written for the work, not just the province

Concrete and steel crews are hurt by formwork that fails during the pour, a pump boom near a power line, a fall from the steel, and a load swinging overhead. This manual is written around them, practice by practice and procedure by procedure.

No pour starts before the formwork is inspected and released, and connectors are always tied off: we found no Canadian rule that allows a controlled decking zone, and the manual says so.

One program for every province you work in

Your crews follow the occupational health and safety law of the province or territory where the job is, not where your office is. The manual sets your company’s rules once and gathers what changes at each border into section 15, so a supervisor starting work in a new province looks up what applies there.

It is laid out on the 14 national COR elements, so it suits a COR audit wherever you certify. Each certifying partner uses its own audit tool, so check it against yours; our provincial manuals follow each province’s audit exactly. No template can guarantee a certificate on its own, and we don’t claim to.

Who it is for

Foundation and flatwork contractors, formwork and shoring crews, rebar placers, concrete placing and pumping, precast and tilt-up erectors, structural steel and metal deck erectors, and concrete cutting and coring.

A template is a starting point, not legal or engineering advice: a qualified person must adapt it to your work and the provinces you work in before you issue it.

Lifetime updates

When the law changes, we publish a new edition and email everyone who bought the template. Every update is free, for as long as we publish it.

Version 1.0 October 29, 2026
- First edition, written for concrete, formwork and steel erection contractors and laid out on the 14 national elements of the harmonized COR audit.
- Section 15 sets out the law and the formwork, engineer, pre-pour inspection, steel erection, crane and pump rules of every province and territory and federal workplaces, checked against the legislation in force on 29 October 2026.