The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) has once again declared June to be Trench Safety Month, further highlighting its innovative educational and safety program the annual Trench Safety Stand Down week, which will be held June 16-20.
For the past nine years in June, NUCA has held the Trench Safety Stand Down (TSSD) for the utility construction industry. This year’s event, sponsored by NUCA National Partners National Trench Safety, Sunstate Equipment Co./Trench Safety Rentals, and United Rentals, will occur at hundreds of job sites across the nation.
TSSD is a series of organized events held by NUCA and industry professionals — both member and non-member organizations — to emphasize the message of safety around job site trenches and excavations. The TSSD week is strongly supported by OSHA and the Trenching and Excavation Safety Taskforce. TSSD is used by industry safety professionals to hold safety training, educational seminars, live demonstrations of trench rescues, and other activities to reinforce the message of trench safety.
Due to the enthusiastic success of NUCA’s trench safety program and last year’s Trench Safety Month, NUCA is again devoting the entire month of June to getting the message out to the public and non-NUCA industry companies about the importance of employee safety when working underground or in and around trenches.
To grow this strong message of safety, the national association will be leveraging the safety messages of TSSD through NUCA’s social media channels, internal publications, and the construction trade press to emphasize several key safety ideas well known through TSSD materials.
NUCA is also partnering this month with the Trenching and Excavation Safety Taskforce to share information about staying safe in and around excavations.
Selecting June as Trench Safety Month is a natural tie-in to the lessons and demonstrations being completed at thousands of NUCA member job sites during TSSD week. In 2024, 24,198 employees participated in a TSSD training event held by one of 507 companies on 2,143 job sites. At these events, employees learned the importance of being safe around job site excavations and trenches from peers and experts alike.
Participation in Trench Safety Month and TSSD has become more important in recent years, as the industry begins gearing up for more water, wastewater, broadband, electric, and highway projects financed by the federal 2021 infrastructure law supported by NUCA. The industry is seeking tens of thousands of new employees to work on these projects, and every one of them will need safety training.
Time and time again, evidence shows that the key to significantly reducing the risks associated with this industry is employee training and reinforcement through safety events such as the TSSD week.
The social media hashtag is #TrenchSafetyMonth.
About NUCA
Founded in 1964, the National Utility Contractors Association represents over 2,000 U.S. utility and excavation contractors, manufacturers, and suppliers who provide the materials and workforce to build and maintain our nation’s intricate network of water, sewer, gas, telecommunications, and electric infrastructure. Visit www.nuca.com.
