# Excavation Safety Pics



## whitley85 (Jan 24, 2007)

I'm trying to write a short memo about excavation safety. As in, it might be a bad idea to get into a 20 ft deep, 4 ft wide excavation if there is no shoring. I want to use pictures if at all possible, since the guys who will be getting this memo may not actually be able to read. Anybody have any pictures of excavations without shoring? Or of cave-ins? Basically anything that would make you say, "Hell no I'm not going down there!" Thanks!


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## Guest (Jan 24, 2007)

Whitley --

I don't have any pictures of unshored/unsafe excavations, but it sounds like you are going to be dealing with a tough crowd. You might try some of the smileys for entertainment value 

*Different Story*

I was at a site once where a crawler had been modified to accomodate a bucket to hold a sampling person (technician). The person in the bucket was collecting soil samples from a boggy area. That sampling person happened to hit an area of plastic peat where he was having trouble advancing the auger. The bucket operator decided to see if he could advance the auger into the ground by 'smacking' it with the bucket with the hapless technician still in the bucket.

I was like Woah !!!!! Fortunately nobody was hurt during the incident, but you can never underestimate the ingenuity of .... well ... technicians. :joke:

I will look out and see if I can find some excavation pics for you. When is the presentation due?

JR


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jan 24, 2007)

whitley85 said:


> I'm trying to write a short memo about excavation safety. As in, it might be a bad idea to get into a 20 ft deep, 4 ft wide excavation if there is no shoring. I want to use pictures if at all possible, since the guys who will be getting this memo may not actually be able to read. Anybody have any pictures of excavations without shoring? Or of cave-ins? Basically anything that would make you say, "Hell no I'm not going down there!" Thanks!


I'll put this differently. Does anyone actually have pics of a contractor using appropriate trench protection, confined space entry, etc.?

I did a lot of inspecting at my old job - I had a lot of damning pictures in that regard. Sadly, no more however.


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## Dleg (Jan 24, 2007)

I don't want to promise something that I might not be able to find, but I do have a picture of a Chinese guy with a nasty, bloody compound shin fracture from a trench collapse. Actually, a series of picutres of him being dug out and then treated. It is in a 5-foot stack of binders of project photos from my last job, doing CM at a big harbor improvement project. The accident pre-dates me, but I've seen the picture and remember the story. I'll try to dig it up when I have time and scan it in. (But don't count on it - that's a big stack of photos)

But if you need any dredging photos, I have them ready to go! (that's why I borrowed the photos from my previous employer)


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## whitley85 (Jan 24, 2007)

JR - that is a crazy story. But you're right, you just can't imagine what people will do.

I don't have a set date for this yet. But seeing as I'm due in just over 3 weeks, it better be pretty soon.

Part of the reason for this is, my company does construction materials testing, and we've heard some really disturbing stories lately about what contractors are asking our technicians to do. One technician was telling me about some sewer line testing he did a few months back. The trench was over 20 feet deep. There was no shoring at all. The only way into and out of the trench was two ladders that the contractor taped together. The technician (who is over 6 ft tall and easily 250 lbs) climbed down the ladders with his nuclear density gauge in one hand. It never occurred to him that it might not be safe. Although he did say he almost couldn't get out, it seems that going up a ladder one-handed is harder than going down a ladder one-handed. Who knew?


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## TouchDown (Jan 24, 2007)

Check out some of these pics - still looking for proper trench protection. I'm searching under google for "osha compliant trench equipment"... but, this showed up, check it out:

stupid people pics


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## TouchDown (Jan 24, 2007)

go to google, search images only...

trench shoring - it has quite a few pics of shoring equipment in place and people in trenches. Should give you plenty to look for.


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## Dleg (Jan 25, 2007)

I found my trench accident pictures. Kind of not the clearest pictures - lots of people standing in the way, and you might not know what is happening unless you know the story. As soon as I can get them scanned, I will post them. (includes one nasty unnaturally-bent-and-bloody-leg picture, maybe that'll scare them)

This may take me another few days, though, since the guy with the scanner is out in the field today.


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## Dleg (Jan 25, 2007)

Got lucky - the scanner guy got in an hour before closing.

Here you go:

As you can see, this wasn't a 20-foot deep trench. It was relatively shallow - this guy got lucky.

















And a close-up of that leg:


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## Guest (Jan 25, 2007)

Wow Dleg,

Those are some pics !! Thanks for sharing - it makes me think safety first :210:

JR


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## grover (Jan 25, 2007)

OSHA has a website full of fatal incident reports, many of which have graphic illustrations

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/toc_FatalFacts.html

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_FatalFacts/f-facts09.html

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_FatalFacts/f-facts22.html

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_FatalFacts/f-facts41.html

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_FatalFacts/f-facts52.html

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_FatalFacts/f-facts55.html

You could write in multiple languages: "REAL ACCIDENT. THESE MEN DIED. USE SHORING!"


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## MetroRAFB (Jan 25, 2007)

I'm amazed at how most people don't think about safety at all. I'll say this, being in just one accident will really change the way you look at things. When I was young and dumb (summers in college), I worked on a line crew with the local power company. We were packing up to head back to the barn one afternoon after working on a new distribution line, I hopped on the tongue of a big wire trailer that was attached to the back of a bucket truck. I was gonna catch a quick ride 200yds or so down this dirt road to my pickup. The two lineman in the truck saw me sit there, and told me "don't fall off". I of course responded, "I won't.", and then promptly fell off as the truck approached 20mph or so. The road was a little bumpy and it just bounced me right off the tongue, and the 2 axle wire trailer carrying two almost full reels of wire ran over my left leg and mangled the hell out of it. I was lucky it was just my leg, I could have been killed if it would have run over my upper body instead. Needless to say, since that day I have acquired sort of a sixth sense about unsafe situations. It's the very first thing that I think about now whenever I'm doing something out of the ordinary. Climbing a ladder, climbing a tree while hunting, riding in a boat, etc. If it's not safe, I ain't doing it. Too bad it took an accident to make me see it.


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## Guest (Jan 25, 2007)

MetroRAFB said:


> I'm amazed at how most people don't think about safety at all.


I feel the same way!

When I was in the service, I was a SeaBee (Construction Battalion). I was enlisted, so I was down in the trenches.






. I saw A LOT of accidents that were easily avoidable. It gave me a healthy does of respect - not only for awareness of the things that I do, but also awareness for what other people are doing around me.

I have been in situations where I was seeing stars more times than I like to admit. And you are right, once you have a good 'scare' you develop a sixth sense to potentially dangerous situations.

Currently I work around waste - solid, hazardous, oily, radiological, medical ... you name it, I am around it. There isn't room for error in the work that I do. I started off kinda timid in this job if I saw potential safety violations - I didn't want to rock the boat. These days, if I see unsafe working or operating conditions, I will leave a facility directly - there aren't any do-overs if you are injured from unsafe practices.

This is a great thread!! I hope to see and contribute to more threads like this one.

JR


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## whitley85 (Jan 25, 2007)

You guys are awesome. These are some great pics and good resources for what I need. This is a big help! :210:


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## cement (Jan 25, 2007)

I heard a story about a worker that was bried in a trench collapse and they started to dig him out with the backhoe - which took off his head. I did a quick search but did not find that one, but here is another link:

http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_FatalFacts/f-facts61.html


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## Dark Knight (Jan 25, 2007)

Excellent thread my friends. If this is not the best thread I have seen here it will be among the best three.


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## grover (Jan 26, 2007)

Luis said:


> Excellent thread my friends. If this is not the best thread I have seen here it will be among the best three. bump


Excellent... as in this :whipping: :suicide1: :Failed: :hung-037: ?


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## RIP - VTEnviro (Jan 26, 2007)

A project we finished the design on recently went out to bid. The low bidder for the earthwork had to be thrown out, because they could not obtain any bonds.

The reason: Recent trench fatality without proper safety protocol being applied.


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