1. Excavation, Trenching, and Soil Mechanics
Subpart P

2. Call One Call 72hrs. Before any excavation
Call Before you dig!!!!!!!
Call One Call 72hrs.
Before any excavation
begins!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s the
LAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. This Training!!!!
This training DOES NOT!!!!!! certify you as a competent person. A competent person would require specialized training in soil classification, trenching and excavation and experience.
This training is for the individual involved with excavation and trenching work and gives an overview of their work to increase awareness with trenching and excavation safety.

4. Points To Be Covered: 1926.650: Scope and Application
: Specific Excavation Requirements
: Requirements for Protective Systems
1926 Subpart P Appendix A: Soil Classification
Other Appendix and Tabulated Data!

5. DANGER!

6. Dangers of Excavation and Trenching
Each year
- 70+ fatalities
- 1,000+ injuries
Related to excavation and trenching operations

7. Fatal Facts!
An employee was installing a small diameter pipe in a trench 3’ wide, 12-15’ deep and 90 feel long. The trench was not sloped or shored nor was there a box or shield to protect the employee. Further, there was evidence of a previous cave-in. The employee apparently reentered the trench, and a second cave-in occurred, burying him. He was found face down in the bottom of the trench.

8. Four employees of a mechanical contractor were laying a lateral sewer line at a building site. The foreman, a plumber by trade, and a laborer were laying an eight-inch, 20-foot long plastic sewer pipe in the bottom of a trench 36 inches wide, nine feet deep, and approximately 50 feet long. The trench was neither sloped nor shored, and there was water entering it along a shale seam near the bottom. The west side of the trench caved in near the bottom, burying one employee to his chest and completely covering the other. Rescue operations took two and five hours - too late to save the men.

9. Scope and Application
“This subpart applies to all open excavations made in the earth’s surface. Excavations are defined to include trenches.”

10. What Is Soil?
A soil is a mixture of rock, water, air and a variety of other substances.
Soil is made up of rock in the form of small particles and spaces called voids. Normally some part of these voids are filled with water.

11. Weighing in on Soil…
Solid Rock weighs about 167 lbs. Per cubic foot. Since a cubic foot of soil is about ½ that rock it will weigh about 83 lbs. Add in water and the weight begins to rise to around 114 lbs. (if saturated).
Do the math and a simple cubic yard of soil can weigh over 3000 lbs! That is 1 and ½ of a ton.

12. Conditions that Increase the chances of a Cave In
Lack of, or to much moisture
Additional weight of
- spoil pile
- tools or equipment
Unsupported faces
Unsupported structures

13. Mechanics of a Cave-In

14. Diagram of a cave in

16. Look for Potential Problems
Fissures
Cracking
bulging or separation of soil
Surface water near excavation
Water accumulation in excavation
Soil that has been previously disturbed

17. Protecting Employees in Excavations
“Each employee in an excavation shall be protected from a cave-ins by an adequate protective system designed in accordance with paragraph (b) or (c) of this section except when:
(I) Excavations are made in entirely stable rock; or
(ii) Excavations are less than 4’ in depth and examination of the ground by a competent person provides no indication of a potential cave-in.”

18. Protective Systems
“a method of protecting employees from cave-ins, from material that could fall or roll from an excavation face or into and excavation, or from the collapse of adjacent structures. Protective systems include support systems, sloping and benching systems, shield systems, and other systems that provide the necessary protection”

19. What are our Options? Sloping, or Benching
Use support systems in accordance with requirements set forth in the standard.
Purchase an engineered system, (example..a trench box or shield.)
Have a PE design a shielding or shoring system specific to your task.

20. 29 CFR 1926.652(b)(4)(i) Design by a registered professional engineer…
Any system not found within the guidelines set forth in the standard, or within the tabulated data tables in the standard requires use of a Professional Engineer.
*No where in the standard or tabulated data does it allow for excavations deeper than 20 feet.

21. Competent Person
“one who is capable of classifying soils, identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings, or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has the authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them”
(Knowledge & Authority)

22. (k)(1) Inspections
Daily Inspection of excavations shall be conducted by a ‘competent person’ prior to the start of work and as needed throughout the shift.
Inspections shall also be conducted after every rainstorm or other hazard increasing occurrence.

23. Access and Egress 1926.651 (c)(2)
“A stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress shall be located in trench excavations that are 4’ or more in depth, and at a distance to require no more than 25’ of lateral travel for employees to use ladders or egress and is in clear view of occupants at all times.”

24. Soil Tests 1926 Subpart P appendix A, Soil Classification (c)(3)
In order to classify a soil as Solid Rock, A, B, or C at least one visual and one manual test must be performed by a competent person.

25. Visual Test
“Visual analysis is conducted to determine the qualitative information regarding the excavation site in general, the soil adjacent to the excavation, the soil forming the sides of the open excavation, and the soil taken as samples from the excavated materials.”

26. Manual Tests
“Manual analysis of soil samples is conducted to determine quantitative as well as qualitative properties of soil to provide more information in order to classify soil properly.”
Examples: Thumb penetration, Pocket penetrometers, Drying tests, Sedimentation…

27. Thumb Penetration Test
1926 Subpart P Appendix A(2)(iii)
…type A soils with an unconfined compressive strength of 1.5 tsf can be readily identified by the thumb; however they can only be penetrated by the thumb only with great effort…Type C soils with an unconfined compressive strength of .5 tsf can be easily penetrated several inches by the thumb, and can be molded by light finger pressure.

28. SOLID ROCK
“Natural solid mineral matter that can be excavated with vertical sides and remain intact while exposed”

29. Type A Soil
Cohesive soil with an unconfined, compressive strength of 1.5 Tsf
Examples of this type of soil are: Clays, silt clay, sandy clays, and clay loam.

30. A Soil is NOT type ‘A’ IF:
The soil is fissured
The soil is subject to vibration
The soil has been previously disturbed
The material is subject to other factors that would require it to be classified as a less stable material.
Water is present

31. Sources of Vibration Traffic Railroad Operations
Heavy Equipment Operations
Jack Hammer Operations
Tamping Machine Operations
Seismic activity

32. Type B Soil
Cohesive soil with an unconfined compressive strength greater than .5 Tsf
Granular cohesion less soils including; silt, silt loam, sandy loam, and some sandy clay loam
Previously disturbed soils except those which would otherwise be classified as Type ‘C’ soil

33. Type ‘C’ Soil
Cohesive soils with an unconfined compressive strength of 0.5 Tsf or less
Granular soils including gravel, sand, and loamy sand
Submerged soil, or soil from which water is freely seeping

34. Sloping Requirements by Soil Type
Soil or Rock Type
Maximum Allowable Slope for Excavations less than 20’
Stable Rock
Vertical (90 Deg.)
Type A
¾ to 1 (53 Deg.)
Type B
1 to 1 (45 Deg.)
Type C
1 ½ to 1 (34 Deg.)

35. Sloping in Type ‘A’ Soil
¾ to 1 (53 Deg.)

36. Sloping in Type ‘B’ Soil
1 to 1 (45 Deg.)

37. Sloping in Type ‘C’ Soil

38. Trench Boxes or Shield Systems:
“A structure that is able to withstand the forces imposed on it by a cave-in and thereby protect employees.”
Trench Boxes or Shields may not be modified, repaired unless approved by a PE.

39. Trench Boxes or Shield

40. Is this allowable?
YES! If the Trench boxes are designed to be stacked and are used in accordance with their tabulated data.

41. Trench Boxes and Sloping or Benching
Trench boxes are generally used in open areas, but they may also be used in combination with sloping and benching. The box should extend at least 18 inches above the surrounding area if there is sloping toward the excavation.

45. Shoring (Shoring System)
“A structure such as metal hydraulic, mechanical or timber shoring system that supports the sides of an excavation and which is designed to prevent cave-ins.”

46. Hydraulic Shoring

47. Stacked Hydraulic Shores

48. Whaler System

49. Surface Encumbrances 1926.651 (a)
“All surface encumbrances that are located so as to create a hazard to employees shall be removed or supported as necessary to safeguard employees”
Adjacent Structures
Roads and/ or Sidewalks
Curb and Gutter
Light poles
Utilities
Mailboxes

50. Utilities
(b)
The estimated location of utility installations, such as sewer, telephone, fuel, electric, …that reasonably may be expected to be encountered during excavation work, shall be determined prior to opening an excavation…

51. Locates
Red = Power
Blue = Water
Orange = Communications
Yellow = Gas

52. Here's Your Sign!!!!!!!!!

53. Can an Excavation be a Confined Space…?
Oxygen deficient atmospheres: less than 19.5% oxygen.
Potential for other gasses or Hazards to be present include but not be limited to:
- Natural Gas from potential leaks or cut lines.
- Methane from decayed matter.
- welding/ cutting operations
- combustion engines
- Electrical utilities
- application of coatings, or paint

54. Other Hazards Falls - fall protection required when working with
unprotected areas that pose a fall of 6 ft or more
Overhead Power lines
- must maintain a minimum of 10ft clearance
Falling loads, equipment or tools, spoil pile
- Hard Hat
- maintain minimum of 2 ft. from excavation edge

55. Summary Call before you dig.
Use at least one visual and one manual soil test to determine soil type.
A Ladder is required for access and egress at 4’
The ladder must be within 25’ lateral travel at all times.
At 4’ depth some type of ‘protective system is required’.
Treat all soil as Type ‘C’ and slope at 1 ½ : 1 and you are covered.
If not: Use some type of shoring or shielding to protect your employees.
Excavations over 20’ require the use of a P.E.

56. Video

57. TEST

58. 1. An additional hazard that can create the risk of Cave in is:
Rain, snow
Vibration
Weight spoil pile, or equipment near trench wall
All of the above
2. Which work operation when performed inside a trench has the potential to create a Hazardous atmosphere?
welding, cutting
Application of coatings or paint
Use of solvents
Internal combustion engines

59. 3. Ladders or access points should be located within the excavation starting at what depth?
4. The weight of a cubic yard of soil (3’X3’X3’) can equal approximately how many pounds?
5. Utilities that could be buried in your work area may include?
Electrical
Fuel/oil/gas
Water/Sewer
all of the above

60. 6. A worker within an excavation should have to walk no further than _____ ft. in either direction to exit the excavation.
7. The most unstable soil that you could work with is classified as:
Type A
Type B
Type C
Solid Rock

61. 8. A slope with the angle not steeper than 1
8. A slope with the angle not steeper than 1.5 horizontal to 1 vertical is considered safe for which type of soil?
Type A
Type B
Type C
All of the above
9. When using a trench box it should be at least ____
inches above the top of the vertical side, or soil
surface.
10. Who can order the evacuation of an excavation?