OSHA's Excavation and Trenching Standard is intended to protect workers from excavation hazards.  One appendix provides a consistent method of soil classification. Others provide sloping and benching requirements, pictorial examples of shoring and shielding devices, timber tables, hydraulic shoring tables, and selection charts that provide a graphic summary of the requirements contained in the standard. 

OSHA's revised rule applies to all open excavations made in the earth's surface, which includes trenches. 

According to the OSHA construction safety and health standards, a trench is referred to as a narrow excavation made below the surface of the ground in which the depth is greater than the width-the width not exceeding 15 feet. 

An excavation is any man-made
cut, cavity, trench, or depression in the earth's surface formed by earth removal. This can include excavations for anything from cellars to highways. 

Many on-the-job accidents are a direct result of inadequate initial planning. Correcting mistakes in shoring and/or sloping after work has begun slows down the operation, adds to the cost, and increases the possibility of an excavation failure. 

Before any excavation actually begins, the standard requires the employer to determine the estimated location of utility installations—sewer, telephone, fuel, electric, water lines, or any other underground installations—that may be encountered during digging.

The standard requires that a COMPETENT PERSON inspect, on a daily basis, excavations and the adjacent areas for possible cave-ins, failures of protective systems and
equipment, hazardous atmospheres, or other hazardous conditions. 

Excavation workers are exposed to many hazards, but the chief hazard is danger of cave-ins. Furthermore, when
cave-in accidents occur, they are much more likely to result in worker fatalities than other excavation-related accidents.

OSHA requires that in all excavations employees exposed to potential cave-ins must be protected by sloping, or benching the sides of the excavation; supporting the sides of the excavation, or placing a shield  between the side of the excavation and the work area. 

Designing a protective system can be complex because of the number of factors involved—soil classification, depth of cut, water content of soil, changes due to weather and climate, or other operations in the vicinity. 

Only personnel who have been properly trained in excavation and trenching and shoring safety  procedures, OSHA requirements, and the employer's safety rules are authorized to perform this kind of work.

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OSHA Regulations (Standards - 29 CFR), 
Part 1926 Subpart P - Excavations 

Construction: General Hazards

Construction: Special Hazards Videos

Excavation Safety PowerPoint Training

Written Master Safety Plan on CD-ROM

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