The Safety Blog - I am Wright.com

Water Accumulation:

The standard prohibits employees from working in excavations where water has accumulated or is accumulating unless adequate protection has been taken. If water removal equipment is used to control or prevent water from accumulating, the equipment and operations of the equipment must be monitored by a competent person to ensure proper use.

OSHA standards also require that diversion ditches, dikes, or other suitable means be used to prevent surface water from entering an excavation and to provide adequate drainage of the area adjacent to the excavation. Also, a competent person must inspect excavations subject to runoffs from heavy rains.

Hazardous Atmospheres:

Under this provision, a competent person must test excavations greater than four feet in depth as well as ones where oxygen deficiency or a hazardous atmosphere exists or could reasonably be expected to exist, before an employee enters the excavation. If hazardous conditions exist, controls such as proper respiratory protection or ventilation must be provided. Also, controls used to reduce atmospheric contaminants to acceptable levels must be tested regularly.

Where adverse atmospheric conditions may exist or develop in an excavation, the employer also must provide and ensure that emergency rescue equipment, (e.g., breathing apparatus, a safety harness and line, basket stretcher, etc.) is readily available. This equipment must be attended when used.

When an employee enters bell–bottom pier holes and similar deep and confined footing excavations, the employee must wear a harness with a lifeline. The lifeline must be securely attached to the harness and must be separate from any line used to handle materials. Also, while the employee wearing the lifeline is in the excavation, an observer must be present to ensure that the lifeline is working properly and to maintain communication with the employee.

Access and Egress:

Under the standard, the employer must provide safe access and egress to all excavations. According to OSHA regulations, when employees are required to be in trench excavations 4–feet deep or more, adequate means of exit, such as ladders, steps, ramps or other safe means of egress, must be provided and be within 25 feet of lateral travel.

If structural ramps are used as a means of access or egress, they must be designed by a competent person if used for employee access or egress, or a competent person qualified in structural design if used by vehicles. Also, structural members used for ramps or runways must be uniform in thickness and joined in a manner to prevent tripping or displacement.

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Tags: Excavation, OSHA by David Wright - IamSafetyGeek
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The standard requires the employer to provide support systems such as shoring, bracing, or underpinning to ensure the stability of adjacent structures such as buildings, wells, sidewalks or pavements.

The standard prohibits excavation below the level of the base or footing of any foundation or retaining wall unless: (1) a support system such as underpinning is provided, (2) the excavation is in stable rock, or (3) a registered professional engineer determines that the structure is sufficiently removed from the excavation and that excavation will not pose a hazard to employees.

Excavations under sidewalks and pavements are also prohibited unless an appropriately designed support system is provided or another effective method is used.

In addition, the standard permits excavation of two feet or less below the bottom of the members of a support or shield system of a trench if: (1) the system is designed to resist the forces calculated for the full depth of the trench, and (2) there are not indications, while the trench is open, of a possible cave–in below the bottom of the support system. Also, the installation of support systems must be closely coordinated with the excavation of trenches. As soon as work is completed, the excavation should be backfilled as the protective system is dismantled. After the excavation has been cleared, workers should slowly remove the protective system from the bottom up, taking care to release members slowly.

In addition to cave–ins, there are other hazards from which workers must be protected during excavation–related work. These hazards include exposure to falls, falling loads, and mobile equipment. To protect employees from these hazards, OSHA requires the employer to take the following precautions:

• Keep materials or equipment that might fall or roll into an excavation at least 3 feet from the edge of excavations, or have retaining devices, or both.
• Provide warning systems such as mobile equipment, barricades, hand or mechanical signals, or stop logs, to alert operators of the edge of an excavation. If possible, keep the grade away from the excavation.
• Provide scaling to remove loose rock or soil or install protective barricades and other equivalent protection to protect employees against falling rock, soil, or materials.
• Prohibit employees from working on faces of sloped or benched excavations at levels above other employees unless employees at lower levels are adequately protected from the hazard of falling, rolling, or sliding material or equipment.
• Prohibit employees under loads that are handled by lifting or digging equipment. To avoid being struck by any spillage or falling materials, require employees to stand away from vehicles being loaded or unloaded. If cabs of vehicles provide adequate protection from falling loads during loading and unloading operations, the operators may remain in them.

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Excavation workers are exposed to many hazards, but the chief hazard is danger of cave–ins. OSHA requires that in all excavations employees exposed to potential cave–ins must be protected by sloping, supporting the sides of the excavation, or placing a shield between the side of the excavation and the work area.

It is our policy that we treat all soil as if it where Type C Soil:

1. All simple slope excavations 20 feet or less in depth shall have a maximum allowable slope of 1 ½:1.

2. All excavations 20 feet or less in depth which have vertically sided lower portions shall be shielded or supported to a height at least 18 inches above the top of the vertical side. All such excavations shall have a maximum allowable slope of 1 ½:1.

3. All other sloped excavations shall be in accordance with the other options permitted in §1926.652(b).

Contractors also may use a trench box or shield that is either designed or approved by a registered professional engineer or is based on tabulated data prepared or approved by a registered professional engineer. OSHA standards permit the use of a trench shield as long as the protection it provides is equal to or greater than the protection that would be provided by the appropriate shoring system.

The employer is free to choose the most practical design approach for any particular circumstance. Once an approach has been selected, however, the required performance criteria must be met by that system.

Next week we will discuss the safety precautions around excavations…

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The Excavation Standard requires that a competent person inspect, on a daily basis, excavations and the adjacent areas for:

· possible cave–ins,

· failures of protective systems and equipment,

· hazardous atmospheres, or

· other hazardous conditions.

If these conditions are encountered, exposed employees must be removed from the hazardous area until the necessary safety precautions have been taken. Inspections are also required after natural (e.g., heavy rains) or man–made events such as blasting that may increase the potential for hazards.

Your Supervisor and/or Foreman should conduct inspections, investigate accidents, and anticipate hazards. They should ensure that all employees have received safety and health training. They should also review and strengthen overall safety and health precautions to guard against potential hazards, get the necessary worker cooperation in safety matters, and make frequent reports to the contractor.

You the employees must take an active role in job safety and feel confident and are assured that it is okay to question whether or not an excavation is safe. Your Supervisor and/or Foreman will make every effort to assure you that the area in which you are working is safe or take steps to correct any unsafe situations that may be present.

Excavation workers are exposed to many hazards, but the chief hazard is danger of cave–ins. OSHA requires that in all excavations employees exposed to potential cave–ins must be protected by sloping, supporting the sides of the excavation, or placing a shield between the side of the excavation and the work area.

Next week we will discuss sloping and trench boxes.

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Tags: Excavation, OSHA by David Wright - IamSafetyGeek
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OSHA cited J.A.M. Construction Co. Inc. for alleged willful, repeat and serious violations of excavation safety standards at a Newport, R.I., worksite. The Middletown, R.I., contractor faces a total of $59,500 in proposed fines.

The citations and penalties resulted from OSHA’s April 15 inspection of a water line installation at the Cluny School on Brenton Road. The inspection found J.A.M. Construction employees working in an excavation deeper than 6 feet that lacked adequate protection against cave-ins. OSHA standards require that all excavations 5 feet or deeper be protected against collapse.

“The hazard here was imminent and potentially deadly,” said Patrick Griffin, OSHA’s area director in Providence. “The walls of an excavation can collapse instantly, burying or crushing employees before they can react or escape. While it is fortunate that no collapse occurred, protecting employees against cave-ins cannot and must never be a matter of luck.”

OSHA consequently has issued to J.A.M. Construction one willful citation, carrying a proposed fine of $49,000. OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

The agency also has issued the company one repeat citation, with a $6,000 fine, for storing excavated material less than 2 feet from the edge of the excavation. OSHA had cited the company in September 2007 for a similar hazard at a Middletown jobsite.

Additionally, OSHA has issued J.A.M. Construction two serious citations, with $4,500 in fines, for inadequate support for an undermined stone wall crossing the top of the excavation, as well as no protective helmets for employees working in the excavation. A serious citation is issued when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

Detailed information on trenching and excavation safety, including an e-Tool, is available on OSHA’s Web site at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/constructiontrenching/index.html.

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