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157 Excavation Safety: Basic
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157 Excavation Safety: Basic

Additional Hazards and Protections

In addition to cave-ins and related hazards, workers involved in excavation work are exposed to hazards involving falling loads and mobile equipment.

Worker in trench with heavy equipment overhead. Workers must be protected in these situations
When a trench is excavated, employees who work in the area MUST be protected from cave-ins from heavy equipment use.

To protect workers from these hazards, OSHA requires employers to take certain precautions. For example, employers must:

  • Protect workers from excavated or other materials or equipment that could pose a hazard by falling or rolling inside the excavation by placing and keeping such materials or equipment at least 2 feet (0.61 meters) from the edge and/or by using a retaining device to keep the materials or equipment from falling or rolling into the excavation.
  • Provide a warning system (such as barricades, hand or mechanical signals, or stop logs) when mobile equipment is operated adjacent to an excavation, or when such equipment must approach the edge of an excavation, and the operator does not have a clear and direct view of the edge.
  • Protect workers from loose rock or soil that could fall or roll from an excavation face by scaling to remove loose material, installing protective barricades at appropriate intervals, or using other equivalent forms of protection.
  • Institute and enforce work rules prohibiting workers from working on faces of sloped or benched excavations at levels above other workers unless the workers at the lower levels are adequately protected from the hazards of falling, rolling, or sliding material or equipment.
  • Institute and enforce work rules prohibiting workers from standing or working under loads being handled by lifting or digging equipment.
  • Require workers to stand away from vehicles being loaded or unloaded to protect them from being struck by any spillage or falling materials. (Operators may remain inside the cab of a vehicle being loaded or unloaded if the vehicle is equipped, in accord with 29 CFR 1926.601(b)(6), to provide adequate protection for the operator.)

Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.

2-10. Keep excavated or other materials or equipment _____.

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