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Excavation Supports – Safety Aspects

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Aim of Safety in Excavations:
 Highlight the hazards of working in an excavation.
 How to protect employees from cave-ins.
 Factors that pose a hazard to employees working in
excavations.
 The role of a competent person at an excavation
site.

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Key Issues at Excavations points:
 Collapse of excavations.
 Undermining of adjacent structures
 Materials falling into excavations
 People, plant & equipment falling into excavations
 Buried services

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General Requirements:
OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration - Dept of Labor USA )
HSE (Health and Safety Executive – Dept of Work and Pensions - UK)
BS 5975 : 2008 Code of practice for temporary works procedures and the
permissible stress design of falsework
www.mlss.gov.zm

 Before any excavation actually begins, the employer must


determine the estimated location of utility installations:

 Sewer, telephone, fuel, electric, water lines

 or any other under ground installations that may be


encountered during digging.

 A competent person will inspect, on a daily basis,


excavations and adjacent areas for possible cave-ins, failure
of protective systems and equipment, hazardous
atmospheres, or other hazardous conditions.
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General Requirements:
 Takes prompt corrective measures to eliminate hazards.

 Adequate protective systems will be utilized to protect


employees. This can be accomplished through: Sloping,
Shoring, or Shielding.

 Workers must be supplied with and wear any PPE deemed


necessary to assure their protection.

 If a trench is 1.3m or deeper, stairways, ramps, or ladders


will be used.

 The employees must not have to travel (within the


trench)any more than 8m to reach the stairways, ramps, or
ladders.
 Toxic and hazardous atmosphere will be tested daily.
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Excavations - Hazards
Hazards include but no limited to;
 Access/Egress (excavations)
 Vehicle traffic
 Falling loads
 Mobile equipment
 Water accumulation
 Adjacent structures collapsing
 Loose rock or soil
 Cave-ins
 Asphyxiation due to lack of oxygen in a confined space
 Inhalation of toxic fumes, drowning
 Electrocution or explosions can occur when workers
contact underground utilities.

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Excavations - Hazards
Cave-Ins:

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Excavations - Hazards
Cave-Ins:

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Causes of Cave – Ins
 When water is
present in an
excavation it is
extremely hazardous
to enter. Also no
head protection

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Injury and Death
 Excavating is one of
the most hazardous
construction
operations
 Most accidents occur
in trenches 1.5- 4.5m
deep
 There is usually no
warning before a cave-
in

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Hazardous Conditions - Examples

They should not


be working under
this crane.
The weight and
vibration of the
crane makes this
a very hazardous
condition.

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Hazardous Conditions - Examples

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Important Considerations:
HSE (Health, Safety and Environment)

PLANNING THE WORK


 Company Standards for excavation works
 Risk assessment procedures
 Consider underground services
 Check temporary work inputs(calculations and
drawings)
 Production of method statements (safe system of
work)
 Selection of right plant and equipment
 Competent site management and supervision
(especially frontline supervisors and or foremen

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Important Considerations:
HSE (Health, Safety and Environment)

METHOD STATEMENT
 Geotechnical information
 Method of Construction and support of
excavations
 Access / egress and edge protection
 Plant / equipment to be used
 Buried services
 Adjacent structures
 Supervision work

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Important Considerations:
HSE (Health, Safety and Environment)

GEOTECHNICAL REPORT – STARTING POINT!


 Ground conditions need to be known to design
the permanent work
 Information can be found from desk study and
previous local area experience
 More complicated work will need a detailed site
investigation including a geotechnical report
 Information can also be used by contractor
when devising construction method (including
support of excavation)

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Thanks!

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