Protective Systems
Shoring
Shoring is the provision of a support system for trench faces used to prevent movement of soil, underground utilities, roadways, and foundations.
Shoring System
Shores are vertical or horizontal supports that prevent the faces of an excavation from collapsing. Vertical shores are called uprights. They're easy to install, relatively inexpensive, and often used in stable soil or in shallow excavations that have parallel faces.
- Vertical shores must be sized for the excavation's dimensions and soil type.
- Horizontal shores are called walers. Walers are often used when unstable soil makes sloping or benching impractical and when sheeting is necessary to prevent soil from sliding into the excavation.
Shielding
Shielding protects workers by using trench boxes or other types of supports to prevent soil cave-ins.
Shielding
Designing a protective system can be complex because you must consider many factors:
- soil classification,
- depth of cut,
- water content of soil,
- changes caused by weather or climate,
- surcharge loads (e.g., spoil, other materials to be used in the trench), and
- other operations in the vicinity.
Shoring or shielding is used when the location or depth of the cut makes sloping back to the maximum allowable slope impractical. Shoring and shielding systems are available from manufacturers in a variety of dimensions, usually aluminum or steel, or they can be custom-built from tabulated data approved by a registered professional engineer.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
5-8. Which excavating practice protects workers by using trench boxes or other types of support to prevent trench cave-ins?
You forgot to answer the question!