What should you know about excavation safety?

One of the most dangerous types of work a person can be associated with is construction type work.  Excavating and trenching are two of the most hazardous conditions construction workers find themselves in.  Excavations are needed for many tasks and luxuries found in everyday life, and because of this excavations are often carried out.  Construction workers may have to conduct an onsite excavation for a number of reasons, including: the need to repair utility lines, water or sewer lines must be replaced, during swimming pool construction, or if a grave needs to be dug.  Those in the construction industry are well aware of the dangers involved in carrying out an excavation, and these dangers are considered by most as expectations that come along with their job description.  An informed worker that is fully trained on the knowledge of any potential hazard that may occur on any excavation site must consent that the excavation site is safe before any worker enters the site, according to OSHA.

Excavation sites and trenches are surrounded by potential hazards.   The possibility that a cave-in could occur is the most well-known potential hazard associated with these work sites.  However, the big question is, why do cave-ins occur?  Soil that has been completely undisturbed is kept in place by the natural forces of that same soil.  When workers create an excavation site, they remove the Earth and the natural forces that have been holding the soil in place loses its ability to properly do this job.  Gravity is a law we all know well.  Eventually, gravity steps in and begins pulling the soil downward and inward into the excavation site, if it is left unsupported.  Cave-ins do not happen in slow motion, as may be the case in numerous movies.  Cave-ins happen quickly, usually before the workers have time to react and move to safety.  Crushing and striking hazards are posed by mechanical equipment, accidental contact with utility lines is always a possibility, and atmospheres that may look safe could be deadly.  All of these need to be considered before workers enter an excavation site.  Hazards should be assessed before work begins because the process of planning for a hazardous event can actually minimize the overall threat that these potential hazards represent.

Once the site has been assessed, workers are protected from the possibility of cave-in occurrences or adjacent structure collapses by protective systems that are put into place.  OSHA standards do not require protective systems to be put into place by any excavation site that is less than five foot deep, but if the competent person assessing the job notices any signs of a potential cave-in OSAHA does require necessary measures to be taken before workers can return to the site.  Protective measures should be taken for any trench between five and twenty feet in depth.  Acceptable forms of protective measures are shoring, sheeting, shielding, sloping, and benching.

It is important to support the sides of an excavation site.  Shoring systems do this and are designed to prevent a cave-in occurrence.  Shoring systems are structures that consist of timer, mechanical or hydraulic systems.  Sheeting is a type of shoring system that retains the Earth in position and can be driven into the ground or work with a shoring system.  If an excavation is going to be open for a large amount of time, typically use sheeting that is driven into the ground.  Workers also commonly utilize a type of sheeting that utilizes plates or shoring grade plywood with strutted systems.  The strutted systems are also commonly referred to as active systems.  Aluminum Hydraulic shores are the most used strutted systems out of all the numerous types.  Aluminum Hydraulic shores are lightweight and easily removed.  Workers install them and then completely remove them from above ground.

Contractors typically use a protective system called a shield, or trench box.  When contemplations involve the use of a continuous horizontal installation, using a trench box is an ideal form of protection.  Trench boxes are placed inside the trench and dragged along the trench as work moves along.  It is important for workers to never go outside of the box as it is being moved because workers can easily be caught between fixed objects and the moving box and be severely injured.  It is also important that the top of the shield not extend over eighteen inches above any material that could possibly roll into the trench.  Some shields are designed to stack on top of one another and a cave-in could push the box sideways and present a crushing hazard.

It is important that workers working in a trench or excavation site by or rent equipment from a trusted company.  You need to know how the company was made and how it should be properly used and handled. A good company will inform you about the equipment it contains and how this equipment can protect you.  Icon JDS is a company focused on worker safety as they create their equipment.  The company you get your equipment from should be as concerned for your safety as you are. Safety is, after all, the most important thing on the job.