diff --git a/core/modules/system/system.install b/core/modules/system/system.install
index a0849b1..121d91e 100644
--- a/core/modules/system/system.install
+++ b/core/modules/system/system.install
@@ -360,23 +360,33 @@ function system_requirements($phase) {
 
     // Set summary and description based on values determined above.
     $summary = t('Last run !time ago', array('!time' => \Drupal::service('date.formatter')->formatTimeDiffSince($cron_last)));
-    $description = '';
+    // Build the string and replacement arguments to be sent later to
+    // \Drupal\Component\Utility\SafeMarkup::format().
+    $description_replacements = [];
+    $description_string = '';
     if ($severity != REQUIREMENT_INFO) {
-      $description = t('Cron has not run recently.') . ' ' . $help;
+      $description_warning = t('Cron has not run recently.');
+      $description_replacements += [
+        '@description_warning' => $description_warning,
+        '@help' => $help,
+      ];
+      $description_string = '@description_warning @help ';
     }
 
-    $description .= ' ' . t('You can <a href="@cron">run cron manually</a>.', array('@cron' => \Drupal::url('system.run_cron')));
-    $description .= '<br />' . t('To run cron from outside the site, go to <a href="!cron">!cron</a>', array('!cron' => \Drupal::url('system.cron', array('key' => \Drupal::state()->get('system.cron_key'), array('absolute' => TRUE)))));
+    $description_manual = t('You can <a href="@cron">run cron manually</a>.', array('@cron' => \Drupal::url('system.run_cron')));
+    $description_additional_info = t('To run cron from outside the site, go to <a href="@cron">@cron</a>', array('@cron' => \Drupal::url('system.cron', array('key' => \Drupal::state()->get('system.cron_key'), array('absolute' => TRUE)))));
+    $description_replacements += [
+      '@description_manual' => $description_manual,
+      '@description_additional_info' => $description_additional_info,
+    ];
+    $description_string .= '@description_manual<br />@description_additional_info';
+    $description = SafeMarkup::format($description_string, $description_replacements);
 
     $requirements['cron'] = array(
       'title' => t('Cron maintenance tasks'),
       'severity' => $severity,
       'value' => $summary,
-      // @todo This string is concatenated from t() calls, safe drupal_render()
-      //   output, whitespace, and <br /> tags, so is safe. However, as a best
-      //   practice, we should not use SafeMarkup::set() around a variable. Fix
-      //   in: https://www.drupal.org/node/2296929.
-      'description' => SafeMarkup::set($description),
+      'description' => $description,
     );
   }
   if ($phase != 'install') {