Truss Support Plate Requirements in California
Where truss support plates are used, California specifies a 2x6 plank laid flat, secured lineally to a 2x6 plank laid on edge, supported with 2x4 wood members spaced no more than 6 feet on centre. This build is set out in 8 CCR 1716.2.
What is the specified build?
- A 2x6 plank laid flat, giving the bearing surface
- Secured lineally to a 2x6 plank laid on edge, giving the depth and stiffness
- Supported with 2x4 wood members
- Those 2x4 members spaced no more than 6 feet on centre
The 6 foot maximum spacing is the number crews get wrong, usually by stretching supports to suit where material happens to be.
Is a truss support plate fall protection?
No. A truss support plate is a temporary bearing detail. It carries trusses; it does not protect the people setting them.
Fall protection during that work is governed separately by 8 CCR 1716.2(e)(1), which since 1 July 2025 applies at 6 feet and requires one of: scaffolding, guardrails, safety nets, a personal fall protection system, or a fall protection plan with safety monitors where the employer demonstrates conventional methods are infeasible.
What does that mean when setting trusses?
A standard second storey plate height puts the crew over 6 feet before anyone climbs onto a truss, so the trigger is met on most tract and multi-family work from the second floor deck up.
Setting trusses is the use case federal OSHA names when it defines a top plate bracket scaffold at 29 CFR 1926.450 — a scaffold supported by brackets that hook over the top of a wall, "used in residential construction for setting trusses." Scaffolding is the first method listed in (e)(1), and unlike a fall protection plan it needs no infeasibility showing.
Related requirements
See fall protection for framing in California for the full standard, plank requirements and load limits for the scaffold itself.
Written by Matthew Horovitz — Competent Person, former OSHA 500 authorized construction outreach trainer, 20 years in risk management. M Squared Safety Solutions, Inc., San Clemente, California. Published 28 August 2026; reviewed against the operative regulation text on the same date.
M Squared Safety is the exclusive California distributor for the Wall Walker top plate bracket scaffold system. We write and rebuild fall protection plans for framing contractors, train crews and foremen, and supply the equipment that makes the plan workable on a frame. Consulting covers Southern California from Ventura County to the Mexico border; equipment ships across the U.S. and Canada.
Questions on a specific frame? Call 949-954-6581 or see Framing Scaffolding Solutions.