Trench Danger

Very sad. Be careful out there folks.

They don't even have to be 20' deep. About a decade ago an acquaintance of mine, who had worked for the company I now own many years before I started here, but had moved into utility inspection for a local engineering firm, died in a trench less than 4' deep. He stepped up to the edge to look at the pipe before the contractor was done dressing up the edges and it collapsed. He was completely buried and it took them about 10-15 minutes to get him out. His retirement party, which was scheduled for that afternoon, suddenly became a wake. If it's not sloped or shored properly stay away from it!

@squirltech

One of your relatives in the plumbing business came too close.?ÿ The trench collapsed around him, crushing the lower half of his body long enough that he still has nerve and circulation problems today.?ÿ I am certain every bad word ever created came out of his mouth while his rescuers were trying to get him out.

Trench safety is no joke.?ÿ I personally witnessed a person killed in a sanitary sewer trench the day before Christmas Eve years ago.

My crews have been going to deep open excavations to do in-hole footing stakeouts and foundation locations.?ÿ The local officials in the town we are located in will not allow backfilling until a foundation location plan is submitted.?ÿ I constantly preach to them about not entering an excavation that is not properly sured up, sloped or benched.?ÿ I have given them diagrams of what is considered safe.

You will never sleep well again if any of your people do not come back alive.

Monitor your crews, as most field guys have the "we can do anything" mentality.

I was involved with the staking and as-built of a 96" sewer bypass, 30+ feet deep on President's Island in Memphis.?ÿ The contractor had the site benched & sloped and was using massive trench boxes.?ÿ The undesirable soil still sluffed away causing several cave-ins.?ÿ Luckily, no one was injured on the stretch I was working on.?ÿ

A very sad event! I think OSHA regulations state that any trench deeper than four feet shall be shored up.