Excavation Safety

OSHA states excavation and trenching are among the most hazardous construction operations. They define an excavation as any man-made cut, cavity, trench, or depression in the earth's surface formed by earth removal. Participants will be introduced to the requirements of the OSHA Excavation Standard, 29 CFR 1926 (Subpart P). Subjects covered will be the causes of trench failure, soil classification, trench protection systems, hazardous atmospheres and conditions, inspection techniques, and competent person responsibilities. This course will provide the basic training requirements for competent persons. Additional instruction will be given on: tests used to classify soil types in the field; the different methods of cave-in protection; selecting proper shoring methods using the provided OSHA tables; and the methodology used to minimize these and other hazards.