This week I would like to talk a little about Excavation and Trenching. Cave-ins due to Excavation and Trenching result in more than 100 fatalities each year. This is due to improperly protected walls of an excavated area, which can trap workers. Not only can a improperly protected wall cause injury or death, but also an improper barricade or flagged excavation area can put one in harm’s way.

There are a few ways to protect against injury from trench collapse. Protective systems that can be used include sloping, shoring, trench shield, and step trenching. Sloping is accomplished by cutting the banks back at an angle, with the proper angle, the soil would not slide toward the worker. Shoring would be a system of supports that brace the side walls of an excavation. Trench shield is a heavy metal box designed to be placed in the trench where workers would be inside the box and protected from a cave-in. Another system would be Step trenching. Step trenching is when you excavate the trench in a way that the trench would look like a large set of steps, working from the lowest area of the trench and working upward, and outward. Excavations four feet deep or more must also have at all time, sufficient means of emergency exit, this would be, a ladder (or some other means) within 25 feet of lateral travel from where work is being preformed.

Along with the proper wall protection for Excavation and Trenching, another very important safety system that should be installed, would be the use of proper barricading or flagging of the open trench. It is not unusual for a route that you were able to travel one day to be cut off by open trenching the next, or even the same day; this is why using the proper barricade or flagging is so important – this will allow workers and vehicle traffic to avoid the hazard area.

You can find more information on Excavation and Trenching in the OSHA Construction Standards, Subpart P 1926.650-.652

Len Kessner
Safety Director

Safety at work is not something any one should take lightly. In years past, employers have had to deal with not only having employee’s getting hurt from unsafe work conditions – but they also dealt with employee’s losing their lives from unsafe working conditions.

That was years ago, now we have the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a part of the United States Department of Labor. OSHA was developed to force employers to provide a much healthier and safer work environment for all employees. If you are an employer, you must follow the regulation’s found in the 29CFR Part 1910. This is the general industry standards and it covers all employers from manufacturing toothpicks to building the space shuttle. Some employers are under the impression that if they are in the construction industry, they only need to follow the regulations found in the 29CFR Part 1926 book of regulations. This is not true, every employer must follow the regulations found in the 29CFR Part 1910. If you are in the construction industry, you must also follow the regulations found in 29CFR Part 1926 – this covers any type of construction, from building new homes, to remodeling an old tenant improvement, to service work, to installing solar power to both commercial and residential properties.

I know that many people really don’t think that safety is that important, but when it comes down to your health and your life – I think that safety should be priority one.

Len
Safety Director