Excavation Sites
OSHA standards on trenching and excavation require your employer to designate a competent person to inspect the trenching operations.
Young Worker Seriously Injured on Construction Site
The competent person must be trained in and knowledgeable about soils classification, the use of protective systems, and the requirements of the OSHA standard. The competent person must be capable of identifying hazards, and authorized to immediately eliminate hazards.
Your employer must make sure all excavations and trenches five feet deep or more, but less than 20 feet, are protected by sloping or benching, trench box or shield, or shoring. There must also be adequate means of access and egress from the excavation. If an excavation is more than 20 feet deep, a professional engineer must design the system to protect the workers.
You must be protected from equipment or materials that could fall or roll into excavations. This could include spoils that could fall into the trench and bury the workers. Mobile equipment used near or over an excavation presents a hazard. A warning system must be utilized (such as barricades, hand or mechanical signals, or stop logs), when mobile equipment is:
- operated next to an excavation or
- is required to approach the edge of an excavation, and
- the operator does not have a clear and direct view of the edge of the excavation. If possible, the grade should be away from the excavation.
If a crane or earthmoving equipment is operating directly over the top of a trench, workers should not be working underneath.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
4-5. All excavations _____ require sloping, benching, trench box or shield, or shoring.
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