The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited a Wisconsin company for failing to protect workers from possible cave-ins in an 8-foot-deep trench and for piling spoils too close to its edge. The agency proposed $700,000 in fines.
The excavating company received 15 workplace safety citations for life-threatening violations involving a trenching project last September, and has accumulated 38 workplace safety citations since 1982, according to OSHA.
“This is the largest proposed penalty I have ever seen for trenching violations,” says George Kennedy, vice president of safety with the National Utility Contractors Association. “It is a clear indication that OSHA isn’t backing off its resolve to stringently enforce the regulations.”
Willful violations
The Wisconsin company’s fine came six months after four workers from a construction subcontractor died in a trench collapse. Investigation of the excavation site found three willful and two serious violations. OSHA proposed $201,600 in penalties.
The agency issues willful violations when employers exhibit indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. A citation for a serious violation is issued when death or grave physical harm could result from a hazard employers knew or should have known about.
“There is no excuse for accidents like this,” says Charles Adkins, OSHA regional administrator in Kansas City, Mo. “It’s imperative that employers take the necessary steps to eliminate hazards and provide safe working environments.”
Lack of cave-in protection remains the primary hazard of trenching and excavation. The U.S. Depart-ment of Labor ranked it second in the top 10 construction violations cited for 2005. Sixteen percent of offenders were cited for the same violation within three years.
Direct and indirect costs
Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, an average of 54 employees die in cave-ins annually, half of them while working on sewer or water systems. Between 2003 and 2005, cave-ins injured 530 workers.
“Employers rarely think beyond the direct costs – medical and workers’ compensation payouts – associated with an accident,” says Kennedy. “But there are indirect costs, such as lost productivity among co-workers and management, lawsuits, and reduced worker morale, especially when fatalities occur. A study estimated that the ratio of indirect to direct costs for injuries resulting in lost work time was 20 to 1.”
Once a cave-in occurs, there is a 98 percent chance of a second collapse. This shows the importance of soil analysis to determine appropriate sloping, benching, and shoring. If an excavation is less than 5 feet deep, OSHA does not require a protective system unless the competent person sees signs of a potential cave-in.
For trenches 5 to 20 feet deep, shoring and sheeting, shielding, sloping and benching are acceptable protective measures. Project planners and the competent person on site must determine which systems will work best. If an excavation is greater than 20 feet deep, a registered professional engineer must design the protective system.
“Regardless of the depth of the trench, OSHA requires a competent person to inspect conditions at the site daily, and as frequently as necessary during the work to assess hazards,” says Keith Lamberson of Safety Corp. of America in Atlanta, Ga.
Additional hazards to employees inside excavations include working with heavy machinery, manually handling materials, construction traffic, overhead and underground power lines, and buried utilities.
Keys to prevention
OSHA isn’t the only agency involved in educational efforts aimed at reducing trenching and excavation fatalities. The American Pipeline Contractors Association (www.americanpipeline.org) offers two fact sheets in alliance with OSHA. Excavation and Trenching Best Practices for Operators and Horizontal Directional Drilling Best Practices for Operators describe best safety practices when working with backhoes, side-booms, bulldozers and trenching machines.
The CD-ROM Trench Safety Awareness from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (www.cdc.gov/niosh) is part of a Web-based training exercise. It contains material on the four types of trench collapse, the frequency and cost of trench collapses, trench soil types, and common trench protective systems. NIOSH suggests that employers:
Develop, implement and en-force a comprehensive safety program that includes training in hazard recognition and avoiding unsafe conditions. “Don’t leave the written safety program in the main office,” says Lamberson. “Be certain that workers and foremen follow it during the construction process.”
Ensure that multilingual workers comprehend safe work instructions. In June 2008, the Centers for Disease Control published a report noting that between 1992 and 2006, 11,303 Hispanic workers died from job-related injuries, 34 percent of them in the construction industry.
OSHA’s trenching and excavation page is at www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html. The National Utility Contractors Assoc-iation has an excavation safety and competent person training program at www.nuca.com/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=1563.
Almost without exception, OSHA investigations reveal that cave-in deaths and injuries can be anticipated and avoided using existing safety precautions.
