Question: We have found that in certain circumstances, having a ladder in a trench box makes it difficult to provide our employees with enough room to work safely while installing underground drain, sewer, and water pipes. We would like to institute the following alternative procedure during those instances: (1) Once the employees have used the ladder to enter the trench box, the ladder will be removed and kept ready for use at the exit point just outside the box; (2) Two workers trained in the procedure will remain at the exit point just outside the box so that they can immediately lower the ladder in the event of an emergency or when the employees otherwise need to egress the trench; (3) The two workers outside the trench would be in uninterrupted communication with the workers inside the trench for the period during which the ladder has been removed. 

A Job Hazard Analysis would be provided to all superintendents detailing the basic job steps, potential hazards, and this procedure in the event the ladder is removed, which includes training for two workers who will be responsible for removing the ladder, communicating with the worker(s) inside of the trench, and inserting the ladder in case of an emergency. Would this be in compliance with 29 CFR 1926.651(c)(2)? 

Answer: Section 1926.651(c)(2) states:

Means of egress from trench excavations. A stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress shall be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth so as to require no more than 25 feet (7.62 m) of lateral travel for employees. [Italics in original, emphasis added]

Thus, §1926.651(c)(2) requires a safe means of egress to be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth. Please note that §1926.651(c)(2) does not exclusively require the use of ladders during trenching activities; a “stairway, ramp, or other safe means of egress” may be utilized. However, regardless of the means of egress employed, it must be available for use by the employees at all times. 

In an emergency situation, the system you describe would involve a delay between the occurrence of the need, the recognition by the employees outside of the trench of that need, and the time it would take to lower the ladder. Also, the complexity of such a system makes it inherently more susceptible to failure than a simple requirement to have a ladder or similar means of egress in place in the trench. Consequently, the system you describe would not be considered an “other safe means of egress” under 1926.651(c)(2). 

You indicate in your question that maintaining a ladder in the restricted space within the trench box in certain situations would create a greater hazard. However, in light of the necessity for immediate egress in the event of an emergency, we are unaware of safety problems that would be caused by the presence of the ladder that would pose a greater hazard than its absence. 

Richard E. Fairfax, Acting Director
Directorate of Construction

OSHA urges employers to heed safety standards when employees work in excavations

WESTBURY, N.Y. – The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited Antorino Sewer & Drain, an Islandia, N.Y., contractor, for seven alleged serious violations of workplace safety standards following a Dec. 8, 2009, incident in which a worker became trapped in a 16-foot hole while installing a cesspool at an East Hills, N.Y., residential worksite. The contractor faces a total of $11,700 in proposed fines.

The citations were issued after OSHA’s investigation found that the excavation lacked cave-in protection, did not have a ladder or other safe means of exit, had excavated material stored at its edge and had not been inspected by a competent person with knowledge and authority to identify and correct such hazards. In addition, the employee lacked a protective helmet and had accessed the excavation by riding in the bucket of a backhoe. OSHA issues serious citations when death or serious physical harm is likely to result from hazards about which the employer knew or should have known.

“Although no worker was seriously injured in this particular instance, the possibility of death or severe injury was real and present,” said Anthony Ciuffo, OSHA’s Long Island area director. “An unprotected excavation can become a grave in seconds and nearly did so here. This incident is a stark example of how dangerous it can be inside an excavation that lacks proper sloping or shoring, especially in the low cohesive and sandy soil we have here on Long Island.”

“Warmer weather will bring an increase in excavation work and an increase in excavation hazards if employers fail to follow basic, common sense and legally required safeguards,” said Robert Kulick, OSHA’s regional administrator in New York. “I urge all employers conducting excavation work to assign a trained and competent person to examine each excavation and ensure it adheres to OSHA standards before they have workers enter them.”

OSHA standards require that all excavations five feet or deeper be sloped or shored or otherwise protected against collapse. Detailed information on excavation hazards and safeguards is available on line at http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/trenchingexcavation/index.html.

Antorino Sewer and Drain has 15 business days from receipt of its citations and proposed penalties to comply, meet with the OSHA area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. The inspections were conducted by OSHA’s Long Island Area Office in Westbury; telephone 516-334-3344 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              516-334-3344      end_of_the_skype_highlighting.

Under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, employers are responsible for providing safe and healthful workplaces for their employees. OSHA’s role is to assure these conditions for America’s working men and women by setting and enforcing standards, and providing training, education and assistance. For more information, visit http://www.osha.gov.

U.S. Department of Labor releases are accessible on the Internet at http://www.dol.gov. The information in this news release will be made available in alternate format (large print, Braille, audiotape or disc) from the COAST office upon request. Please specify which news release when placing your request at 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755. The Labor Department is committed to providing America’s employers and employees with easy access to understandable information on how to comply with its laws and regulations. For more information, please visit http://www.dol.gov/compliance.

Trenching safety hazards at two Massachusetts worksites have led to $166,950 in proposed fines for a Methuen, Mass., contractor. The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited L. Perrina Construction Co. Inc. for a total of 23 alleged willful, serious and other-than-serious violations of safety standards following inspections at worksites in Quincy and Lynnfield, where the company was installing water mains.

OSHA found that employees at both locations were exposed to cave-in hazards while working in trenches more than 6 feet deep that were not protected against the collapse of their sidewalls, exposed to struck-by hazards from material stored at a trench’s edge in Quincy and an undermined sidewalk in Lynnfield, and were not trained to recognize and avoid such hazards at either location. The Quincy trench also lacked a safe means of exit.

Additional hazards included damaged, inadequate or misused access ladders, a lack of inspections and safety training, electrical hazards, improper storage of flammables and incomplete recording of injuries and illnesses in Quincy. They also included damaged lifting slings, electrical hazards, no backup alarm on an earth mover and a lack of jobsite safety inspections in Lynnfield.

“An unguarded excavation is a tomb in waiting. Its walls can collapse in moments, crushing and burying workers beneath tons of soil before they have a chance to react or escape,” said Paul Mangiafico, OSHA’s area director for Middlesex and Essex counties.

“This deadly hazard is exacerbated when workers are not provided an effective means of safely entering and exiting the trench. No worker should enter a trench unless and until all required safeguards are in place and in use,” said Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts.

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OSHA has cited Atlas Excavating Inc. in West Lafayette, IN with two alleged willful violations for failing to follow federal workplace safety standards at a trenching operation. Proposed penalties total $130,200.

OSHA opened an inspection in May 2009 at excavation jobsites in Danville, IL after receiving information that employees were working in excavations as deep as 8 feet without cave-in protection. As a result of the inspection, OSHA has issued two willful violations to the company for failing to protect workers from cave-in hazards and one serious violation for failing to provide workers in a trench a means of exit.

OSHA defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health. A serious citation is issued when there is substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

“It has long been known that cave-in fatalities are entirely preventable,” said OSHA Area Director Nick Walters in Peoria, Ill. “Any employer involved in trenching and excavation can protect its workers by following OSHA’s clear regulations. Those who ignore safe practices and OSHA regulations are inviting tragedy into the lives of workers and their families.”

Atlas Excavating has been inspected in Indiana by OSHA seven times since 2000 with numerous serious violations issued.

In July Kentucky OSHA inspected an MSD (Metropolitan Sewer District) worksite at 425 Browns Lane in Louisville and hit MSD with over $102,000 in penalties and two repeat citations. One citation was for not conducting daily inspections of an excavation and the protective equipment systems. The other citation was for having employees in a trench over five feet deep without any cave-in protection system in place.

MSD also received a serious citation for leaving a covered excavation with plywood overtop the hole and not labeling it with the words “hole” or “cover”.

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The alleged failure to protect its employees from potential trenching and excavation hazards has brought Luckinbill Inc. $142,800 in proposed penalties from Federal OSHA following an investigation at two separate worksites near Drummond.

“Health and safety standards must be strictly adhered to in order to protect employees,” said David Bates, OSHA’s area director in Oklahoma City. “Excavations must be properly sloped or benched to avoid injuries and fatalities.”

OSHA’s Oklahoma City Area Office began its investigation March 30, where it found employees working inside a trench without adequate protection from cave-ins at the company’s worksite on Highway 132, north of Drummond. Workers were replacing valves and piping for water lines at depths of 8 and 10 feet in excavations that were not properly sloped to ensure that the soil would not collapse inward. OSHA cited the company with one willful violation for failing to provide an adequate protective system for employees working in an excavation 8 to 10 feet in depth and one serious violation for failing to ensure employees were wearing high visibility vests.

OSHA’s inspection at the company’s worksite on County Road NS2760, southwest of Drummond, revealed that Luckinbill employees were exposed to the same hazardous working conditions. The company was cited with one willful violation for failing to provide an adequate protective system in an excavation 8 to 10 feet in depth, and two serious violations for failing to ensure employees were wearing high visibility vests and failing to ensure that excavated soil was kept at least 2 feet from the edge of the excavation.

Luckinbill Inc., headquartered in Enid, Okla., employs about 180 workers, six of whom were at the worksites at the time of the inspections.

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OSHA has cited A-1 Excavating Inc. in Bloomer with one willful and four serious violations of federal workplace safety standards following the death of a worker.

OSHA began its investigation in April when a worker was fatally lacerated while cutting pipe in a trench at a worksite in New Richmond, Wis. The investigation revealed hazards cited as serious for failure to maintain equipment in a safe condition, failure to provide safe egress from a trench, failure to provide training and the unsafe operation of equipment near or under overhead power lines.

The willful citation was for failing to protect workers in an excavation from cave-ins. A willful citation is issued when an employer knew the hazard existed and failed to correct it.

“A-1 Excavating has been inspected at various Wisconsin worksites 33 times since 1982 and has received 44 citations,” said OSHA Area Director Mark Hysell in Eau Claire, Wis. “It’s long past time that A-1 Excavating make a serious commitment to making certain their workers go home safe at the end of every shift.”

Hysell added that in February, OSHA issued this company $693,000 in penalties for 11 willful violations of federal trenching standards, which A-1 Excavating is contesting before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.  Click here to read more about this event

The company, with current proposed penalties totaling $98,000, has 15 business days from receipt of the citations to comply, request an informal conference with the OSHA area director, or contest the citations and proposed penalties before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. 

Click here to see local news segment.

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OSHA has proposed seven citations with penalties totaling $136,000 against Tritt Contracting Inc. for violating federal workplace safety standards.

The penalties follow an inspection of a construction site on Cedar Drive in Powder Springs, Ga., where OSHA found company employees working in dangerous conditions inside a 23-foot-deep trench.

OSHA alleges two willful violations with penalties totaling $100,000 for allowing employees to work in a trench without a safe means of escape and without an adequate worker protective system to prevent cave-ins. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

The agency also has proposed a repeat violation with a $20,000 penalty for the company’s failure to adequately train employees to recognize and avoid hazardous conditions, and for inadequately training employees to direct traffic around the worksite. The company was cited for violating the same standard in 2007.

Four serious violations with penalties totaling $16,000 have been issued for the company’s failure to place warning signage to oncoming motorists of work being conducted in the roadway, not providing the employee directing traffic with proper traffic control equipment, allowing equipment to be placed within two feet of the trench and using a protective system inside the trench that was not designed by a professional engineer.

“OSHA will not allow employers to endanger their workers’ lies by cutting corners on safety just to speed up work and minimize any inconvenience to residents and motorists,” said Andre Richards, area director of OSHA’s Atlanta-West office.

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OSHA has proposed $60,000 in fines and a willful citation against G. Lopes Construction Inc. for allegedly failing to provide cave-in protection for employees working in a 6-foot, 3-inch-deep excavation located in front of 156 Winthrop St. in Taunton, Mass.“These citations highlight one of the most dangerous hazards in construction work,” said Brenda Gordon, OSHA’s area director for Boston and southeastern Massachusetts. “An unguarded excavation can collapse in seconds, crushing and burying workers beneath soil and debris before they have a chance to react or escape.”

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OSHA is citing McLendon Enterprises Inc. of Vidalia with six workplace safety violations and proposing $124,250 in penalties.

The citations come after an OSHA compliance officer observed company employees working in a trench without cave-in protection at a jobsite in Hinesville, Ga., last September.

OSHA is proposing three willful violations against the company, carrying proposed penalties of $38,500 each, for allowing workers inside an 11-foot-deep trench without safe egress and without cave-in protection. While in the trench, workers were exposed to being struck or engulfed by soil placed too close to the trench and by an excavator that was operating too close to the edge of the trench. The agency defines a willful violation as one committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health.

Three serious safety violations with combined proposed fines of $8,750 are for the company’s failure to train a non-English speaking employee in trenching hazards, allowing employees to work in a trench without head protection and allowing an employee to use a cutoff saw without wearing eye protection. A serious citation is issued when there is a substantial probability that death or serious physical harm could result from a hazard about which the employer knew or should have known.

“Excavation is recognized as one of the most hazardous construction operations,” said John J. Deifer, OSHA’s area director in Savannah, Ga. “The significant fines proposed here reflect the fact that this company knew the OSHA rules yet chose not to follow them. It is fortunate in this case that no one was injured.”

We thought it interesting that you can go to the webpage for this contractor http://www.mclendonenterprises.com/horizon.html and take a look at the second photo on this page (note: Don’t mouse over it as the photo will change). Anything seem questionable for our trenching safety competent people?