OSHA 29 CFR 1926 on the Florida Contractor Exam: How to Find Answers Fast

The DBPR's General, Building and Residential Contractor reference list, valid January through December 2026, covers Contract Administration and Project Management together and names "Code of Federal Regulations, (OSHA) 29 Part 1926, July 1, 2025" among the books you may bring into the testing room, available from the Government Publishing Office bookstore or from Mancomm. The same list states that exam answers are based on the listed editions, that earlier or later editions come in at your own risk, and that some questions are also based on field experience and knowledge of trade practices.

The Business & Finance list is different. OSHA 1926 is not on it, and the published Business & Finance outline has no standalone safety area. Whatever safety material that exam covers has to be answered from the references on its list, which center on the Florida Contractor's Manual.

Among the Division II trade lists we track, OSHA 1926 appears on the plumbing, roofing, and all three pool and spa lists (commercial, residential, and servicing). Trade lists are reissued each year and editions sometimes change mid-cycle, so check the current reference list for your license and exam part on the DBPR's construction examination reference lists page before you buy anything.

Part 1926 runs in lettered subparts from A through CC, each covering one hazard or type of work. Section numbers follow the subpart, so every section in Subpart M starts with 1926.50x and every section in Subpart P starts with 1926.65x. Once you know which letter owns a topic, the section number tells you roughly where in the book you are.

Most subparts are narrow and rarely visited on a contractor exam: helicopters, diving, blasting, underground construction, and power transmission all have their own. The ones below carry most of the general construction material:

• Subpart C, General Safety and Health Provisions (1926.20–1926.35): training, first aid, housekeeping, and the definitions in 1926.32, including competent person and qualified.
• Subpart E, Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment (1926.95–1926.107): head, eye and face, hearing, and other PPE.
• Subpart F, Fire Protection and Prevention (1926.150–1926.155): extinguishers, flammable liquids, temporary heating.
• Subpart K, Electrical (1926.400–1926.449): ground-fault protection on construction sites lives at 1926.404.
• Subpart L, Scaffolds (1926.450–1926.454).
• Subpart M, Fall Protection (1926.500–1926.503): where fall protection is required at 1926.501, how the systems must be built at 1926.502, training at 1926.503.
• Subpart P, Excavations (1926.650–1926.652), with the soil classification and sloping appendices that follow it.
• Subpart X, Stairways and Ladders (1926.1050–1926.1060).
• Subpart Z, Toxic and Hazardous Substances (1926.1100–1926.1153), which includes respirable crystalline silica at 1926.1153.
• Subpart CC, Cranes and Derricks in Construction (1926.1400–1926.1443).

OSHA questions are mostly number questions. Heights, depths, distances, loads, and inspection intervals decide most of them, and the wrong answer choices are usually the right number from a neighboring rule. The thresholds below are quoted from the current eCFR text of Part 1926 and are the ones worth being able to find in seconds. Your printed edition is the one the answer key follows, so confirm each against your own copy as you tab it.

• Fall protection: an unprotected side or edge 6 feet or more above a lower level requires guardrails, safety nets, or personal fall arrest (1926.501(b)(1)).
• Scaffolds: fall protection kicks in above 10 feet (1926.451(g)(1)), each scaffold must support its own weight plus at least 4 times the maximum intended load (1926.451(a)(1)), and a competent person inspects it before each work shift (1926.451(f)(3)).
• Guardrails: top rail at 42 inches, plus or minus 3 inches (1926.502(b)(1)), able to withstand 200 pounds applied within 2 inches of the top edge (1926.502(b)(3)).
• Personal fall arrest: rigged so the worker can't free fall more than 6 feet (1926.502(d)(16)(iii)); anchorages capable of supporting at least 5,000 pounds per employee attached, unless they're part of a complete system with a safety factor of at least two, used under a qualified person's supervision (1926.502(d)(15)).
• Ladders: side rails extend at least 3 feet above the upper landing (1926.1053(b)(1)); a non-self-supporting ladder's foot sits about one-quarter of its working length out from the top support (1926.1053(b)(5)(i)); a stairway or ladder is required at any break in elevation of 19 inches or more (1926.1051(a)).
• Trenches: a means of egress in trenches 4 feet or deeper, within 25 feet of lateral travel (1926.651(c)(2)); spoil and equipment kept at least 2 feet from the edge (1926.651(j)(2)); daily inspections by a competent person (1926.651(k)(1)).
• Protective systems: required unless the excavation is entirely in stable rock, or under 5 feet deep with a competent person finding no sign of a potential cave-in (1926.652(a)(1)); the default slope without soil classification is 1½ horizontal to 1 vertical, or 34 degrees (1926.652(b)(1)(i)).
• Fire extinguishers: at least one rated 2A per 3,000 square feet of protected building area, with no more than 100 feet of travel to the nearest one (1926.150(c)(1)(i)).
• Electrical: ground-fault circuit interrupters or an assured equipment grounding conductor program on construction sites (1926.404(b)(1)).

The book is too big to tab every subpart and still read the tab edge, so tab the subparts that carry the list above and let the table of contents handle the rest. Label tabs by subpart letter and a short title ("M: Fall protection"), because questions describe a situation and your hand needs to get from the situation to the letter. Then add second-level tabs only where you'll visit repeatedly: 1926.451 inside Subpart L, 1926.501 and 1926.502 inside Subpart M, 1926.651 and 1926.652 inside Subpart P, and 1926.1053 inside Subpart X.

The state's marking rules apply to this book like every other reference on the list. Highlighting and pen underlining are allowed. Handwritten and typed notes are not, and existing notes must be blacked out. Movable tabs such as Post-it flags are prohibited, so the tabs have to be permanent, and you can't make any marks in a reference during the exam. The books and tabs guide covers the same method across the full reference stack.

• Tab first: C (definitions and general provisions), E, F, K, L, M, P, X, and CC.
• Highlight the number in each threshold rule, not the whole paragraph. Under time pressure you're scanning for the figure.
• Tab the start of the Subpart P appendices; the soil types and sloping tables sit behind the main excavation sections and are easy to lose.
• Test your tabs: have someone read you a situation ("worker on a scaffold 12 feet up") and time how long it takes to put your finger on the rule.

Injury recordkeeping and reporting sit in a different part of Title 29. The rule that a work-related fatality must be reported to OSHA within 8 hours, and an in-patient hospitalization, amputation, or loss of an eye within 24 hours, is 1904.39. The OSHA 300 log and the 300A summary are Part 1904 as well. If your exam's list names only Part 1926, don't expect to find those rules in the book you carried in, and learn them well enough to answer without a lookup.

The term competent person is defined once, in 1926.32(f): someone capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards who also has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them. Individual subparts then say what the competent person has to do, such as inspecting scaffolds before each shift or excavations daily. Qualified is a separate definition at 1926.32(m), and the two are easy to swap on a multiple-choice question.

An OSHA 10-hour or 30-hour course card is a training credential. The course can help with the material, but on exam day the book on your desk is what you'll be searching.

No sugarcoating: reading Part 1926 front to back is a poor use of study time. It's a regulation written for enforcement, and the exam uses it as a lookup. What works is answering safety questions, finding the controlling rule in your own copy for every one you miss or guess, and repeating that until the subpart letter comes to mind before you finish reading the question. On Project Management the safety area is about 12 of the 60 questions for GC candidates, 10 of 50 for building, and about 8 of 45 for residential, and the Project Management exam guide covers the other 80% of that blueprint.

With a retake at $175–$215 depending on the part, it's worth knowing where you stand before you book. The free readiness quiz is 12 exam-style questions with domain-by-domain feedback, and if safety comes back weak you'll know which subparts to drill first.