TAILGATE SAFETY TALKS

Excavation

A “Competent Person” is required to inspect all excavations to prevent persons from

entering unsafe excavations, especially those more than 5 feet deep (1.5m) to prevent
land slides/cave-ins by benching, shoring, sloping, or trench boxing required for bracing
trenches/holes. Workers in excavations of 5 feet in depth or greater must have adequate
protective methods or systems against cave-ins (Sloping- benching, trench boxes, and/or
shoring and sheeting) (OSHA 1926.652(a)). Unprotected trench and narrow excavations
in depth of five or more feet are potentially imminent danger for those within and
immediately adjacent to the excavation. Persons in the immediate vicinity of an
unprotected trench and narrow excavations must be evacuated from the excavation until it
is properly sloped or shored.

Safe trench and narrow excavation trenches /holes more than 4 feet deep need to have
adequate means of egress, such as ladders, steps, or ramps. Excavated materials are
placed at least 2 feet from the edge of excavations, so that loose material does not expose
workers to a falling material hazard.

Support systems, shield systems, or other protective systems are to be in accordance with
manufacturer's tabulated data, or designed by a registered professional engineer. Workers
shall not be allowed in shields (trench boxes) when shields are being installed, removed,
or moved vertically. Workers are not to enter shored trenches when exposed to more
than 2 feet of excavation below the bottom of the trench box.

References:

Standard Specifications:

§107-05 E. Imminent Danger and Emergency Actions. Any action by the Contractor that
presents a potentially imminent danger of injury to the public, a worker, or the inspection staff
will be halted immediately by the Engineer, and operations stopped in accordance with §105-01
Engineer’s Authority. The Contractor’s personnel shall have local emergency numbers readily
available. These numbers shall include local utility, police/fire and medical assistance. In the
event of an emergency, the Contractor shall evacuate all employees and endangered persons from
the immediate vicinity to the best of the Contractor’s ability.

§107-05 F. Restricted Areas. The Contractor shall identify, guard and protect restricted areas
such as open and unattended excavations, areas subject to falling debris and other potentially
hazardous locations in and adjacent to areas lawfully frequented by any person. Such protection
shall consist of one, or a combination of, the following:
• A substantial fence or barricade, not less than 1.2m in height and mounted on satisfactory
supports spaced at intervals of not more than 3m. Warning signs reading “DANGER-
KEEP OUT” shall be mounted on the fence or barricade at no more than 30m intervals.
The signs shall be a minimum of 600mm wide by 400mm high. The lower portion of the
sign shall be white and shall bear the words “KEEP OUT” in 125mm black letters. The
 upper portion shall be predominantly red with 125mm white lettering spelling out the
word “DANGER.” The lettering shall be enclosed by an approximately elliptical, white
ring and the entire sign bordered in black. All barricades and warning signs shall be
furnished, erected, relocated, maintained, and removed as required.
• A 1.2m (minimum) extension of the trench sheeting above the ground surface adjacent to
an excavation.
• A substantial covering over an excavation. Where it is possible that vehicles will move
over such covering, the covering shall be of sufficient strength to withstand the loading.

§107-05 K. Open Excavations and Trenches. In accordance with 29 CFR 1926.650, a

trench is a narrow excavation (in relation to its length) made below the surface of the ground. In
general, the depth is greater than the width, but the width of a trench (measured at the bottom) is
not greater than 4.6 m. If forms or other structures are installed or constructed in an excavation so
as to reduce the dimension measured from the forms or structure to the side of the excavation to
4.6 m or less, the excavation is also considered to be a trench. The Contractor shall provide
protection from collapse and cave-in for any employee who enters a trench or other excavation in
accordance with the requirements of 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P, unless the excavation is less than
1.5 m in depth and examination of the ground by the Contractor’s competent person provides no
indication of a potential cave-in. The Contractor shall include procedures to meet the excavation
safety requirements in the Project Safety and Health Plan.

Trenching and excavation work shall be carried out under the supervision of the Contractor's
competent person. The Contractor shall provide ladders or ramps for access and egress within
7.5m of an employee work area if a trench is 1.2m or more deep. The Contractor shall keep
traffic, equipment and materials at least 0.6m away from the edge of any trench or excavation, or
use retaining devices. When mobile equipment is operated near an excavation or must approach
the edge of an excavation, either the operator must have a clear and direct view of the edge of the
excavation; or a warning system of barricades, hand signals or mechanical signals shall be used.
Workers shall not be permitted under loads that are being handled by lifting or digging
equipment.

For the purposes of open excavations and trenches, the term “competent person” shall be defined
as one who has had specific training in, and is knowledgeable about, soil analysis, the use of
protective systems and the requirements of 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P.

OSHA 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P

The employer/contractor must instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance
of unsafe conditions and all regulations applicable to the work environment to control or
eliminate any hazard or other exposure to injury or illness.
[OSHA 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2)].

Workers in excavations of 5 feet in depth or greater must have adequate protective

system for cave-ins (Sloping- benching trench boxes, and/or shoring and sheeting)
[OSHA 29 CFR 1926.652(a)].

Employer/contractor for trenches/holes more than 4 feet deep need to have adequate
means of exit, such as a ladder or steps [OSHA 29 CFR 1926.651(c)(2)].
U.S. Department of Labor

ACCIDENT SUMMARY No. 41

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF
ACCIDENT
Four employees of a mechanical contractor were
laying a lateral sewer line at a building site. The
foreman, a plumber by trade, and a laborer were
laying an eight-inch, 20-foot long plastic sewer
pipe in the bottom of a trench 36 inches wide,
nine feet deep, and approximately 50 feet long.
The trench was neither sloped nor shored, and
there was water entering it along a shale seam
near the bottom. The west side of the trench
caved in near the bottom, burying one employee
to his chest and completely covering the other.
Rescue operations took two and five hours - too
late to save the men.

INSPECTION RESULTS
Following its inspection, OSHA cited the employer for one serious violation and one repeat
violation of its construction standards. Had the regulation requiring sloping or shoring of the
trench been followed, these men would have been protected against possible collapse of the
trench.

ACCIDENT PREVENTION RECOMMENDATIONS

Employers must instruct employees to recognize and avoid unsafe conditions associated with
their work [29 CFR 1926.21(b)(1)].
Sides of trenches in unstable or soft material more than 5 feet in depth must be shored,
braced, sloped, or otherwise supported to protect employees working within them [29 CFR
1926.652(b)].

NOTE: The case here described was selected as being representative of fatalities caused by
improper work practices. No special emphasis or priority is implied nor is the case necessarily
a recent occurrence. The legal aspects of the incident have been resolved, and the case is now
closed.
U.S. Department of Labor
Occupational Safety & Health Administration

ACCIDENT SUMMARY No. 61

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF
ACCIDENT
An employee was working in a trench 4 feet wide
and 7 feet deep. About 30 feet away a backhoe
was straddling the trench when the backhoe
operator noticed a large chunk of dirt falling from
the side wall behind the worker in the trench, he
called out a warning. Before the worker could
climb out, 6 to 8 feet of the trench wall had
collapsed on him and covered his body up to his
neck. He suffocated before the backhoe operator
could dig him out. There were no exit ladders.
No sloping or shoring had been used in the
trench.

INSPECTION RESULTS
As a result of its investigation, OSHA issued citations alleging three serious violations. OSHA's
construction standards include several requirements which, if they had been followed here,
might have prevented this fatality.

ACCIDENT PREVENTION RECOMMENDATIONS

The employer did not instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe
conditions and the regulations applicable to the work environment to control or eliminate any
hazard or other exposure to illness or injury [29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2)]

1. The employer should not allow work in trenches where the sides were not shored or
otherwise supported when the trench is 5 feet or deeper and 8 feet or longer [29 CFR
1926.652(a)].
2. The employer allowed workers in trenches more than 4 feet deep without adequate
means of exit, such as a ladder or steps [29 CFR 1926.651(c)(2)].

NOTE: The case here described was selected as being representative of fatalities caused by
improper work practices. No special emphasis or priority is implied nor is the case necessarily
a recent occurrence. The legal aspects of the incident have been resolved, and the case is now
closed.