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Posted By Safe System
Hi All,
I have been going through the tinterweb trying to find some information regarding Excavations.. more specifically.. Shallow ones.
There is currently an on going battle with some SM regarding the protection of said Trenches.
I appreciate that each trench/excavation needs to be individually risk assessed however ...
Your more experienced views to reaffirm my thoughts would be much appreciated.
If you have a shallow excavation/trench ..
for argument sake lets say about 1/2 meter - a meter..
which may only be exposed for a few days...
there are no pedestrians only site operatives in a secured area..
what is the general consensus regarding protecting them? .. MY view is to simply fence off the area so far as RP .. the SM view is very much different!!
Let the discussion begin!
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Posted By Sally
Are you talking about protection from people falling in or from collapse of excavation. Particularly for the later the difference between 1/2 metre and 1 metre can be very significant.
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Posted By Safe System
Is it RP to fence off the excavation at that small depth to prevent people from tripping/falling in...
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Posted By Safe System
machines aren't an issue - as company standard they will not come within X distance of any excavation to prevent collapse from vibrations etc...
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Posted By justgossip
We barrier all excavations and place signage.
We do this because the clients / PC's want it.
This engenders good relationship with all.
If i was the client i would ask for all excavations to have a barrier. the barrier would stop people from jumping over over this shallow excavation because with my luck they would jump, fall, trip, and claim.
reasonable and practical for barrier that makes them walk round. just my thoughts.
garry
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Posted By Philip Roche
If someone were to fall in to the excavation even at 1 mt and were to suffer injury without the excavation fenced off it would be very hard to prove that you did all that was reasonably practicable . Id say regardless of the depth a physical barrier of some sort is necessary . Id fail to see how a risk assessment for any excavation would not have a barrier in place as a control measure . Falls would be a forseeable risk . We have the same issue sometimes with multiple shallow excavations in areas which need to be fenced individually to protect the workers themselves.
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Posted By Robert K Lewis
Following on from Philip the physical barrier used can vary in strength from as little as Pin and Tape to a full guardrail. The RA should define what is needed. I see no real grounds for not defining the edge of even minor excavations in some as even very shallow, less than 100mm, changes to G/L have been known to cause major injuries following falls.
Bob
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Posted By Safe System
These are all my points.. we may have 12 of the shallows in one area.. I insist on having orange plastic fencing rolled out with pins.
the works on i do on major sites means the PC requires that all excavations need to have guard rail system or shoring high enough to act as a suitable guard, then crowd barriers & then metal fencing before accessing the excavation - which does the trick!
Its the minor sites that end up causing arguments! Does anyone have any case studies of injuries/majors as a result of unprotected shallow excavations?
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Posted By steven bentham
Jersey had a shallow excavation in a road fall in some years ago. From memory it was a slot trench through the road surface with a concrete top, a machine had tracked along the edges, the workman when into the excavation, the whole edge fell in causing very serious injuries [some of his insides pushed into his scrotum and other injuries] and a criminal prosecution against the company.
Shallow does not necessarily mean safe or unsafe does it!
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Posted By phalda
Depending on the trench width and length.. why not just cover the trench with suitable strength plates...????? The utilities use em all the time
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