Hi all.

I inspected one of our civil works sub-contractors who are laying new utilities.

Trench depth varies from around 1.2 to 1.8m. Walls and face are clay and sand and are in the roadway. Width of trench is around 1.5m to 2m. Operatives are going into the trench to hand dig around existing utilities, so even in the shallower sections their head is well below the lip.

The subbies are obviously not used to using any form of trench support and seem suprised that I'm insisting that they do, so much so that my MD is questioning me why work needs to stop. (he's concerned about cost and delay to project).

Any advice would be welcome. 

Thanks 

What does the principals RAMS say about this project task?

What is your role to now be demanding the subbies use supports?

If they are your RAMS and you documented using supports then there should be no argument from your MD.

Remind them "value engineering" aka cost cutting increases their chances of 18 years custodial in the event of a Gross Negligence Manslaughter prosecution following a trench collapse.

Thanks Peter and Roundtuit for your replies.

I'm happy to report that Trench supports being installed today. 

I am a bit late to this.  I was indirectly involved in the Cotswold Geotech incident where a young man was in a trench when it collapsed, those of you who have heard of the case will know that the young man died.  This case led to the first successful prosecution for corporate manslaughter.  I don't want to dwell on the facts of the case but the aftermath. 

As a result of this incident a young man lost his life and his parents lost their son. The company lost its reputation and eventually folded and everyone lost their jobs. There were other effects on the senior management and their families, which I won't go into.  In all a lot of people suffered severely from this incident even if they were not involved directly. 

This incident should be reminder to us all as health and safety professionals that we should be fearless and we should stick to our guns and put in place the appropriate control measures before a job starts or if the job has been started and needs to be stopped to ensure the safety of the people caryring out the work we should do it.  The consequences for everyone cannot and should not be ignored as the effects on the people who involved either directly or indirectly are huge and will without doubt change their lives forever.