Shallow trenches don’t always command the same respect as deeper trenches, yet they account for well over half of all trench-related fatal accidents in the United States.
From 2000 to 2009, 350 workers died in trenching or excavation cave-ins in the United States – an average of 35 fatalities per year, according to figures from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Most incidents involve excavation work or “water, sewer, pipeline, and communications and power line construction,” according to the NIOSH bulletin, “Preventing Worker Deaths from Trench Cave-ins.” An analysis of OSHA data from 1997 to 2001 showed that 64 percent
