Excavation and Trench Accidents: What You Should Know

Attorney for Excavation and Trenching Accidents

We Help Victims of Excavation Accidents and Trench Cave-Ins on Construction Job Sites Recover Compensation

Excavating ground and working in trenches and ditches exposes construction workers to many dangers. Even in construction, one of the most dangerous industries, excavation and trenching are considered especially hazardous.

For example, our construction accident lawyers have handled trenching injuries from excavation cave-ins, trench collapses, toxic exposures, and burns while welding inside a ditch.

This article explains trenching and excavation hazards, how to protect yourself when performing job-related excavation activities, and legal options when you suffer an injury or a loved one dies in a trench collapse.

Keep reading to learn more about trenching and excavation accidents on job sites.

If you have questions about your case and want to explore a claim under workers compensation or tort law, fill out this form or call 804-251-1620 or 757-810-5614.

Definitions in Excavation and Trench Collapse Claims

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) defines several terms used in workers compensation claims and personal injury lawsuits arising from excavation and trenching accidents:

• • An excavation is any cavity, cut, depression, or trench made by man in the earth’s surface formed by removing dirt.

• • A trench, also known as a trench excavation, is a narrow excavation made below the ground’s surface. Usually, the trench’s depth is greater than its width, and its width is less than 15 feet.

• • A cave-in occurs when a mass of soil or rock separates from the side of an excavation or when soil moves from under a trench support system. This mass may bury, entrap, or injure a worker inside the site.

• • A competent person can identify and correct existing and predictable hazards at the excavation site or working conditions that are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees. For example, a competent person under OSHA’s excavation standards will know how to classify the soil, design structural ramps, inspect protective systems, monitor hazardous conditions, use water removal equipment, and inspect the site.

Knowing the proper terminology can help you when gathering and analyzing evidence in your trenching injury case.

What are the Most Common Excavation and Trenching Hazards?

These types of excavation accidents may result in catastrophic injuries or even death for construction workers inside the trench:

• • Trench cave-ins are the most dangerous type of excavation hazard because they can bury workers alive or cause permanent disability. Indeed, having just a few cubic yards of soil fall is like having a car on top of you.

• • Working in a confined space underground or in a ditch can expose you to hazardous atmospheric conditions that are oxygen deficient, flammable, explosive, irritating, toxic, or poisonous. If the trench does not have proper ventilation or gas monitoring, or if you do not have adequate respiratory equipment, you may suffer burns or an inhalation injury.

• • Excavation rarely occurs in a vacuum. Usually, other activities happen on the construction site while you are excavating or working in a trench. Working near other construction increases the risk of being struck by a falling object (tool, rock, soil, machinery).

• • Machinery may strike an underground utility line while excavating, which may cause a gas leak or electrical shock.

• • Heavy equipment mishaps, such as excavator crashes, forklift accidents or crane collapses, may occur during excavation. For example, loads may fall from the equipment and strike you while you work in the trench. My law firm has helped many construction workers with traumatic brain injuries (TBI) from these types of accidents recover top-dollar workers compensation settlements for their head injuries.

• • Excavating may cause or worsen unstable soil conditions, leading to mudslides or sinkholes.

• • You may trip on debris in or near the excavation, causing you to fall from a height and suffer harm.

• • Excavations near traffic or public areas put you at risk of suffering injuries due to a pedestrian, bicyclist, or nearby vehicle whose driver is not paying attention to the job site.

• • You may suffer a work-related back injury or rotator cuff tear from overexertion while digging a trench or lifting material.

• • Bad weather, including rain, snow, and lightning, can make an excavation site more dangerous, especially if you do not have a protective covering or a drainage system.

• • You may fall from a ladder while entering or exiting the trench.

Our trenching injury lawyers can help you and your family with these claims.

Excavation Hazard Statistics: How Dangerous is Excavating or Trenching?

Although many injuries and deaths from trench or excavation cave-ins can be prevented by following OSHA standards, more than 250 workers have died from trench collapses over the past ten years. Indeed, in 2022, 39 workers died while performing trench or excavation work.

Here are other statistics about excavation and trench accidents:

• • Most trenching injuries and fatalities occur in the construction industry

• • Construction workers aged 25 to 34 have a higher risk of suffering a trenching injury.

• • Hispanic workers accounted for more than a third of trench and excavation-related fatalities in the workplace in 2022.

• • More injuries from trenches and excavations occur in the morning, before noon, versus the afternoon.

• • OSHA issues approximately 2,000 citations yearly to employers violating trench and excavation safety standards.

What Do the OSHA Excavation Standards Require?

29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 1926, Subpart P, explains the job safety requirements for excavation and trenching.

A person or company’s failure to comply with one or more of these trenching and excavation safety regulations often causes injury or fatality and serves as the basis for a negligence cause of action.

As your excavation accident lawyer, we will investigate whether potential defendants violated these OSHA regulations or general safety rules for excavations:

• • All surface impediments that create a hazard for employees must be removed or supported. 29 CFR 1926.651(A).

• • Before opening the excavation, the project owner or general contractor should mark the location of utility lines (cable, electric, fuel, sewer, telephone, water, etc.). 29 CFR 1926.651(b).

• • A competent person must design structural ramps for employees to enter and exit excavations (access and egress). 29 CFR 1926.651(c)(1).

• • If a trench excavation is more than four feet deep, employees should have access to a ladder, ramp, or stairway at most 25 feet of lateral travel away.

• • A contractor should not allow an employee to work underneath loads handled by lifting or digging equipment. 29 CFR 1926.651(e).

• • The job site must have a warning system for mobile equipment operators who need a clear and direct view of the excavation’s edge. A warning system may include hand signals, mechanical signals, or barricades.

• • Excavations that are more than four feet deep should be tested for oxygen deficiency and other hazardous atmospheres before employees enter.

• • If the trench or excavation contains a concentration of flammable gas that exceeds 20 percent of the lower flammable limit of that specific gas, ventilation should be provided.

• • A registered professional engineer should design the protective system if the trench is 20 feet deep or more.

• • The employer should provide a harness with a lifeline attachment to employees working in bell-bottom pier holes.

• • The employer should take adequate precautions to protect employees when accumulated water, including surface water’s natural drainage, enters the excavation.

• • A trenching support system is a structure that supports the sides of an excavation, an underground installation, or a structure next to the excavation. Support systems like shoring, bracing, or underpinning are needed when excavation threatens the stability of adjoining structures, buildings, or walls.

• • You should receive protection from loose rock or soil falling into or rolling down an excavation face. Such protection includes installing protective barricades or scaling to remove loose soil and material.

• • A competent person must inspect the excavation, nearby areas, and protective systems before work starts each day and as needed throughout the shift. In addition, this person must inspect the trench or excavation after every rainstorm.

• • If you cross over excavations more than six feet deep, you must have a walkway with guardrails.

• • The employer should provide high-visibility clothing if the job site exposes you to vehicular traffic.

• • Before starting the job, you should receive trenching and excavation safety training in your language.

• • Employers should keep excavated soil and materials at least two feet from the trench’s edge.

• • Having excavation safety rules is only the start. Employers must also enforce them.

• • Contractors must adhere to zoning regulations when excavating near preexisting buildings, structures, or roadways.

In addition, when determining if you have a viable trenching injury lawsuit, we will investigate the preplanning for this trenching, shoring, or backfilling job. For example, we will examine whether the potential defendants considered traffic near the excavation, overhead and underground utilities, and the water table, or provided enough ladders, scaffolds, or shoring or protective systems.

Proving the defendant violated one of these trenching and excavation safety rules increases the likelihood of success during settlement negotiations or at trial.

Protective Systems When Working in Trenches

An inadequate protective system is often to blame for a trench cave-in.

OSHA tells employers to follow the three Ss of trenching safety: Slope, Shore, and Shield.

Your excavation accident lawyer should investigate whether potential defendants followed them.

Trench Sloping and Benching

Sloping or pulling the sides of the excavation back collapses the bank, so it cannot cave in on employees.

The degree of angle or type of slope to use depends on the soil type and whether it is subject to vibration from heavy traffic or pile driving or part of a sloped, layered system.

Understanding soil classification is a crucial aspect of trench work safety. OSHA classifies the soil at excavations into three types, each with its own set of safety considerations.

• • Type A Soil: Cohesive soils such as clay, sandy clay, clay loam, and silty clay.

• • Type B Soil: Granular cohesionless soils like angular gravel, crushed rock, silt, sandy loam, and silt loam.

• • Type C Soil: Cohesive soil like gravel, sand, submerged rock that is unstable, or submerged soil with freely seeping water.

If the employer uses sloping, it must place the dirt away from the excavation’s edges.

Trench Shoring

Shoring trench banks means leaving them vertical but using aluminum hydraulic, timber, or metal braces to hold them in place.

A registered engineer must approve the shoring system.

Trench shoring can be expensive. The employer must pay for its design, purchase and transport the system, and train workers on how to install and remove it.

Trench Shielding (Trench Boxes)

Shielding systems use trench boxes consisting of two steel walls parallel to the trench and connected with other materials.

Trench boxes do not stop cave-ins if the earth starts to shift. Instead, shielding protects workers from the weight and pressure of the soil so that others can help them out.

Do You Want to Speak with a Top-Ranked Trenching and Excavation Accident Attorney?

You may qualify for workers compensation benefits or be entitled to damages through a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit if you or a loved one suffered an injury or death due to a trench collapse or job-related excavation activity.

Please complete our online form or call us at 804-251-1620 or 757-810-5614 to learn more about your rights when unsafe trenching conditions turn your life upside down.

We help injured workers and their loved ones in Virginia and Maryland.