NAHB-OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook, English-Spanish

By NAHB Labor, Safety, & Health Services

Prevent trenching accidents! This handbook explains in simple language how to comply with OSHA excavation standards on residential jobsites. In an easy-to-use English-Spanish format, it provides guidelines for conducting safe trenching and excavation operations and identifies safe work practices that can prevent serious accidents and injuries. It includes clear text and photographs with captions of the following: trenching and excavation hazards competent-person responsibilities soil type and testing protective systems usage house foundations/basement excavations employee training hazardous atmospheres entry and egress into trenches and excavations inspectionsThe NAHB-OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook is a must have for your company's safety program. Use with this handbook with the Trenching and Excavation Safety Video to provide the most effective training possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BuilderBooks
• Release date: Jan 1, 2009
• ISBN: 9780867186949

Book preview

NAHB-OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook

Guía de Seguridad de Zanjas y Excavacion

Disclaimer

This publication provides accurate information on the subject matter covered. The publisher is selling it with the understanding that the publisher is not providing legal, accounting, or other professional service. If you need legal advice or other expert assistance, you should obtain the services of a qualified professional experienced in the subject matter involved. Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favored status by the National Association of Home Builders. The views and opinions of the author expressed in this publication do not necessarily state or reflect those of the National Association of Home Builders, and they shall not be used to advertise or endorse a product.

© 2009 by BuilderBooks. All rights reserved. No pan of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

NAHB-OSHA trenching and excavation safety handbook = Guía de seguridad de zanjas y excavacion.

p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-86718-624-6

1. Excavation—Safety measures—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Earthwork—Safety measures—Handbooks, manuals, etc.

I. National Association of Home Builders (U.S.) II. United States. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. III. Title: Guía de seguridad de zanjas y excavacion.

TA730.N34 2009

624.1′520289—dc22

2008038915

For further information, please contact:

National Association of Home Builders

1201 15th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005-2800

800-223-2665

Visit us online at www.BuilderBooks.com

elSBN: 978-0-86718-694-9

NAHB-OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) is a Washington, DC-based trade association representing more than 235,000 members involved in home building, remodeling, multifamily construction, property management, trade contracting, design, housing finance, building product manufacturing, and other aspects of residential and light commercial construction.

NAHB’s Labor Safety & Health Services is committed to educating America’s builders about the importance of construction safety. Our safety and health resources are designed to help builders control unsafe conditions, operate safe jobsites, comply with OSHA regulations, and reduce their workers’ compensation costs.

If you have any questions, regarding the content of this handbook, please contact

Labor, Safety & Health Services

National Association of Home Builders

1201 15th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20005-2800

1-800-368-5242

Acknowledgments

Special thanks are due to those individuals who assisted in the development of the NAHB-OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook: Matt Murphy, Safety Environmental Engineering, Inc., Keedysville, Maryland, who wrote the initial draft; NAHB’s Construction Safety and Health Committee; and the following members of the Committee’s Trenching and Excavation Safety Work Group, who critiqued the manuscript and provided suggestions and details to finalize the manuscript: Bob Masterson, Ryland Homes, Calabasas, California; Jim Carr, Department of Construction Management, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, Little Rock, Arkansas; George Middleton, Toll Brothers, Inc., Horsham, Pennsylvania; and Thomas Trauger, Winchester Homes, Bethesda, Maryland.

The English-Spanish edition of the NAHB-OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook was prepared under the general direction of NAHB’s Assistant Staff Vice President of Labor, Safety & Health Service, Rob Matuga, assisted by Kevin Cannon, Safety Specialist, NAHB Labor, Safety & Services.

Numerous other individuals and companies were integral to the development of this book. NAHB would like to thank the following companies and associations for their generous contributions of time, professional expertise, and access to active jobsites and other resources. Beltsville Construction Supply, Inc., Beltsville, Maryland; Winchester Homes, Bethesda, Maryland (www.winchesterhomes.com); NVR, Inc., Reston, Virginia (www.nvrinc.com); Safety Environmental Engineering, Inc., Keedysville, Maryland, (www.seeinconline.com); Ryland Homes—Washington, DC Division, Fairfax, Virginia (www.ryland.com); Speed Shore, Houston, Texas (www.speedshore.com); ICON Equipment Distributors, East Brunswick, NJ (www.iconjds.com); GME, Union City, MI (www.gme-shields.com); and American Public Works Association (APWA), Washington, DC (www.apwa.net). Spanish translation provided by Trusted Translations, Falls Church, Virginia (www.trustedtranslations.com) and editing provided by NAHB BuilderBooks assisted by April Michelle Davis at Editorial Inspirations, LLC, Montpelier, Virginia (www.editorialinspirations.com). Photographs taken by Rob Matuga and Kevin Cannon, unless otherwise noted.

Special thanks go to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Directorate of Construction staff for their professional advice and support on this project and Office of Outreach Services and Alliances for their commitment to help us improve the safety and health of the home building industry workforce. For additional safety information on Excavation and Trenching, go to www.osha.gov.

Contents

Introduction

1 Overview of Trenching and Excavations

Common Hazards

Training and Hazard Identification

Competent Person

Site Evaluation Planning

2 Soil Classification and Mechanics

Soil Classification System

Layered Soils

Previously Disturbed Soil

Weight of Soil

Soil Mechanics That Likely Cause Trenches and Excavations to Fail

Soil Testing

3 Protective Systems

Sloping

Benching

Shielding

Shoring

Tabulated Data

House Foundations and Basement Excavations

Installing and Removing Protective Systems

Spoil Placement

4 Specific Excavation and Trenching Requirements

Call Before You Dig: One-Call Notification

Supporting Surface Encumbrances

Safe Access and Egress

Hazardous Atmospheres

Emergency Rescue

Watering/Dewatering Operations

Fall Hazards

Exposure to Falling Loads

Ramps/Walkways

Mobile Equipment

Site Inspections

Appendix A: Soil Classification and Testing Procedures for Visual and Manual Analysis

Visual Tests

Manual Tests

Other Strength Tests

Appendix B: Sample Daily Excavation Inspection Checklist

Glossary

Introduction

The NAHB Labor, Safety & Health Services Department developed the NAHB-OSHA Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook to assist the residential construction industry in complying with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) safety requirements. An excavation is any man-made cut, cavity, trench, or depression in an earth surface that is formed by earth removal (cut), while a trench is considered a narrow excavation (in relation to its length) made below the surface of the ground. In general, the depth of a trench is greater than its width, and the width (measured at the bottom) is not greater than 15 ft. (4.6 m). If a form (e.g., house foundation wall forms) or other structure installed or constructed in an excavation reduces the distance between the form and the side of the excavation to 15 ft. (4.6 m) or less (measured at the bottom of the excavation), the excavation is also considered to be a trench.

The main goal of this Trenching and Excavation Safety Handbook is to explain in easily understood language what builders, utility contractors, plumbers, and other industry professionals can do to comply with the OSHA excavation standard while focusing on the most common excavation hazards found on the jobsite. The handbook is intended to be used in conjunction with the Trenching and Excavation Safety Video.

This handbook identifies safe work practices and related OSHA requirements that have an effect on hazardous trenching and excavation activities in the residential construction industry. Excavation operations are among the most hazardous in residential construction operations. Trenches or excavations often occur during the installation or repair of utility or water and sewer lines, and creating house foundations or basement excavations. This handbook covers the applicable regulatory requirements (Title 29 Code of Federal Regulations, Part 1926, Subpart P) and the necessary procedures for safe excavation in various types of soils and conditions, and will guide you through the use of safe work practices to protect employees working in open trenches or excavations. The