Whether a contractor wants to excavate a trench to lay power lines or pipelines, the need for an organized plan of attack is essential. Therefore, an A to Z approach for starting and ending a trenching project is necessary.
Failing to notify the proper utility company or business owner of the intention to dig could have dire consequences. So putting proper planning and safety measures in place before digging the first hole is important to help avoid disastrous results.
First, contact the community stakeholders around the planned excavation project. Any buildings, roadways, railroads, and utilities could affect the trench once it has been dug.
Whether a contractor wants to excavate a trench to lay power lines or pipelines, the need for an organized plan of attack is essential. Therefore, an A to Z approach for starting and ending a trenching project is necessary. Failing to notify the proper utility company or business owner of the intention to dig could have dire consequences. So putting proper planning and safety measures in place before digging the first hole is important to help avoid disastrous results. First, contact the community stakeholders around the planned excavation project. Any buildings, roadways, railroads, and utilities could affect the trench once it has been dug. [text_ad] Those responsibilities fall on the shoulders of the “Responsible Person,” an individual designated to act as the point person on a project. OSHA defines this as someone who “is trained in the use of various protective methods and soil analysis, is authorized to immediately eliminate onsite hazards, and has knowledge of all OSHA requirements.” Andrew Schuermann, the trencher and compact equipment product manager for Ditch Witch, has seen his fair share of poor planning. He discusses some of the common mistakes contractors make on trenching jobs. “Just not having a clear trench path, from the beginning, so that any hazards can be clearly defined and brought to light,” he says. “For example, if I don’t know where I’m going to end my trench and I just start trenching along, knowing I might curve around a building and end up somewhere on the other side. There might be a hazard there that wasn’t marked because I didn’t clearly let the 811 company know where my trench path was going to be. So I might not have a line that’s clearly marked.” In each state, contacting the utility companies is as simple as dialing 811. Utility companies will come to a site to help a contractor locate and mark utility lines, free of charge. However, Post warns that problems can arise, even when a contractor reaches out to the utility companies. “Sometimes those site plans are 20 years old,” says Post. “They’re not always perfectly reliable.” Following old site plans can cause new headaches for contractors and crews. Accidentally hitting gas or power lines will usually lead to having to pay fines or getting construction permits pulled. [text_ad use_post='27747'] Post brings even more reasons for contractors to be cautious. “If you have those things adjacent to your excavation, there are two concerns,” contends Post. “The first is the extra load—what engineers call the surcharge load that those structures put on the excavation. Anytime you dig a hole in the ground, that hole wants to fill itself back in, and it eventually will.” That means before you dig the hole, account for the proximity of those structures to the project and plan accordingly. Understand that the closer a structure is to the trench, the higher the likelihood of that trench collapsing. A contractor may hire a surveyor for the project to evaluate the land. This process gives a contractor a good idea of what type of tool the job requires. The type of soil a tool must dig into, and the width and depth of the project dictate what tool a contractor will use. “It could be a small walk behind trencher for a small utility, sprinkler, or a small electrical line, all the way up to a 300,000 pound excavator that could dig in a 48-inch wide trench, down 25 feet,” explains Josh Brown, an inside sales representative for Protec Equipment.
Those responsibilities fall on the shoulders of the “Responsible Person,” an individual designated to act as the point person on a project. OSHA defines this as someone who “is trained in the use of various protective methods and soil analysis, is authorized to immediately eliminate onsite hazards, and has knowledge of all OSHA requirements.”
Andrew Schuermann, the trencher and compact equipment product manager for Ditch Witch, has seen his fair share of poor planning. He discusses some of the common mistakes contractors make on trenching jobs.
“Just not having a clear trench path, from the beginning, so that any hazards can be clearly defined and brought to light,” he says. “For example, if I don’t know where I’m going to end my trench and I just start trenching along, knowing I might curve around a building and end up somewhere on the other side. There might be a hazard there that wasn’t marked because I didn’t clearly let the 811 company know where my trench path was going to be. So I might not have a line that’s clearly marked.”
In each state, contacting the utility companies is as simple as dialing 811. Utility companies will come to a site to help a contractor locate and mark utility lines, free of charge.
However, Post warns that problems can arise, even when a contractor reaches out to the utility companies.
“Sometimes those site plans are 20 years old,” says Post. “They’re not always perfectly reliable.”
Following old site plans can cause new headaches for contractors and crews. Accidentally hitting gas or power lines will usually lead to having to pay fines or getting construction permits pulled.
Post brings even more reasons for contractors to be cautious. “If you have those things adjacent to your excavation, there are two concerns,” contends Post. “The first is the extra load—what engineers call the surcharge load that those structures put on the excavation. Anytime you dig a hole in the ground, that hole wants to fill itself back in, and it eventually will.”
That means before you dig the hole, account for the proximity of those structures to the project and plan accordingly. Understand that the closer a structure is to the trench, the higher the likelihood of that trench collapsing.
A contractor may hire a surveyor for the project to evaluate the land. This process gives a contractor a good idea of what type of tool the job requires. The type of soil a tool must dig into, and the width and depth of the project dictate what tool a contractor will use.
“It could be a small walk behind trencher for a small utility, sprinkler, or a small electrical line, all the way up to a 300,000 pound excavator that could dig in a 48-inch wide trench, down 25 feet,” explains Josh Brown, an inside sales representative for Protec Equipment.
