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Trenching and Excavation:
Unsafe
access and egress |
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Am I In Danger?
To avoid fall injuries during normal entry and exit of a trench or
excavation at your job site, ladders, stairways, or ramps are required.
In some circumstances, when conditions in a trench or excavation become
hazardous, survival may even depend on how quickly you can climb out.
How Do I Avoid Hazards?
Construction Worker Dies |
These workers are not protected from a cave-in,
nor do they have any apparent safe access or egress from the trench..
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Deaths Due to
Unsafe Access/Egress
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| Case Reports
The following Case Reports of trenching accidents
investigated by OSHA illustrate how seemingly innocent workplace
activities can have deadly consequences.
 | Two employees were laying pipe in a trench 12-feet
deep, when one of the employees saw the bottom face of the trench move.
He jumped out of the way along the length of the trench; the other
employee was fatally injured as the wall caved-in. The walls of the
trench were not sloped, and no means of emergency egress were provided.
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| In a 15-foot deep trench, which was not shored or
sloped properly, two workers were laying sewer pipe. The only means of
egress was by climbing the backfill. While exiting the trench, one of
the workers was trapped by a small cave-in. The second employee tried
to extricate him, but a second cave-in occurred, trapping the second
employee at the waist. The second cave-in actually caused the death of
the first employee; the second employee sustained a hip injury. |
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