OSHA Demolition & Cleanup Fact Sheet

Demolition and Cleanup Before starting a demolition, the person or persons in charge must adequatelyprepare for the task with regard to the health and safety of the workers. Thesepreparatory operations involve the overall planning of the demolition job, includingthe methods to be used to bring the structure down, the equipment necessaryto do the job, and the measures to be taken to perform the work safely.Before doing demolition work, inspect available personal protective equipment(PPE), and select, wear and use the PPE appropriate for the task. Demolition work involves many of the same hazards associated with constructionwork. However, demolition also poses additional hazards due to unknownfactors such as: deviations from the structure's original design, approved orunapproved modifications that altered the original design, materials hidden withinstructural members, and unknown strengths or weaknesses of damaged materials.To counter these unknowns, all personnel involved in a demolitio