EM 385-1-1 2024 Changes: What the New Manual Says.

Which Edition Applies to Your Contract

The 2024 manual supersedes EM 385-1-1 dated 30 November 2014 (title page, footnote). Contractors must comply with the latest version of the manual, including interim changes, in effect on the date of solicitation, and existing contracts continue to apply the previous edition until the contract is complete (preamble, paragraph 5.b(1) and note). So a contract solicited before the 2024 manual took effect may still be running under the 2014 edition. Changes made after publication are posted on the USACE publications website (preamble, paragraph 5.c(1)).

The Summary of Change

The manual's own Summary of Change page lists what this major revision does:

• Changes the title from "Safety and Health Requirements Manual" to "Safety and Occupational Health Requirements"
• Incorporates a new U.S. Corps of Engineers Safety and Occupational Health Management System (CE-SOHMS)
• Eliminates the term Government Designated Authority (GDA)
• Streamlines the document to reduce redundancies and eliminate unsubstantiated requirements
• Adds new requirements for Site Safety and Health Officers
• Adds requirements for fire prevention and protection associated with fire watches
• Adds requirements for vehicles, machinery, and mechanized equipment associated with defensive driving
• Adds requirements for load handling equipment medical evaluation
• Adds requirements for blasting associated with the Blaster-in-Charge and the explosive site safety plan
• Adds requirements for sanitation associated with food service training and an extermination plan
• Adds new requirements for uncrewed aircraft
• Incorporates requirements for the Army Electrical and Hazardous Energy Control (HEC) Safety Program

The manual also uses underlining to mark text that is new or changed from the 2014 edition (preamble, paragraph 5.c(2)), so the printed manual is the best place to see the detail.

Three Places to Look First

GDA is gone. In the contractor chapter, the manual notes that the term Government Designated Authority no longer applies and has been replaced with the responsibility of the Contracting Officer or COR (chapter 2, introductory note).

SSHO requirements. The Summary of Change says the manual adds new requirements for SSHOs, and the 2024 text defines Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3 SSHOs, with separate training and experience requirements and limits on which levels can serve on high and extremely high risk projects (paragraphs 2-2.x and 2-3.b). Our article on EM 385-1-1 SSHO requirements walks through them.

A management system, encouraged. USACE has moved to a performance-based safety management system, CE-SOHMS, and contractors are highly encouraged to implement a safety management system of their own, though it isn't mandatory (preamble, paragraph 5.i).

A Consistent Layout

The 2024 manual points readers to the same paragraph number in every chapter for the same kind of requirement: training and qualification in paragraph 3 (paragraph 2-3.a), AHA requirements in paragraph 6 (paragraph 2-6), and plan requirements in paragraph 7 (paragraph 2-7.a). Citations read chapter, paragraph, then subparagraph, so 10-3.b is chapter 10, paragraph 3, subparagraph b (preamble, paragraph 5.d). Once you know that pattern, finding the training requirement for scaffolds or the plan requirement for excavations takes seconds.

If your company is moving onto 2024-edition contracts and wants help with what changes in practice, see our construction safety consulting.