Every excavation business owner knows that sites can come with known and unknown risks. In fact, you probably have some processes in place to identify and mitigate these risks effectively and ensure a safe working environment. That said, amidst the daily grind, and everyday chaos, it’s easy to forget just how dangerous an excavation site can be. In this blog, we discuss top safety measures against six common excavation dangers.
1. Cave-Ins
Site wall collapses can lead to anything from suffocation to serious injuries, and they often happen because of unstable soil, bad weather causing flooding, or even too much pressure from removing soil or using heavy equipment nearby.
Your’re probably already following OSHA-mandated excavation safety guidelines. This includes sloping trench walls, using trench boxes for protection, or shoring up the walls for added stability.
You can also buffer safety by training workers to spot red flags that point to potential cave-ins. For instance, your team should be trained and empowered to sound the alarm and call for an expert when they spot bulges, cracks and clumps of soil falling away from the face of sloped or benched excavation sites.
2. Falling Loads
While your workers are hard at work loose soil, rocks, or equipment can come tumbling down, endangering lives and causing serious injuries.
Preventing excavation accidents calls for measures such as the use of
- Protective barriers to enclose the excavation area and prevent materials from spilling
- Proper loading and unloading procedures
- Adequate training for workers involved in these processes is crucial to ensure they are well-versed in the correct operation of equipment and the use of safe rigging techniques.
Remember, safety starts from the ground up, quite literally, in the case of excavation projects. By implementing robust protective measures, you are mitigating excavation hazards, ensuring the well-being of all workers involved, and protecting your reputation.
3. Dust and Toxic Air
Individuals working with abrasive blasting materials, common in construction and various industries, face health risks from inhaling fine particles like silica sand, coal slag, garnet sand, etc. Exposure to these substances can lead to severe respiratory conditions such as silicosis and lung cancer. These gases of different types (common and otherwise) can be present in excavation sites due to decaying organic matter or the presence of underground utilities. Workers also face dangers from flying rock fragments or dust, which can lead to respiratory issues or eye injuries if proper precautions aren’t taken.
Addressing this risk of toxic air begins with regular air monitoring. Comprehensive air quality tests can help workers detect and measure the levels of hazardous substances present in the excavation area. This is crucial for determining the appropriate safety measures and ensuring workers are equipped with the necessary personal protective equipment. Respirators, for instance, can protect against inhalation of toxic gases, airborne particles and dust (which might sound harmless compared to the other hazards on this list, but can still make your team sick). Implementing effective ventilation systems is another critical aspect of mitigating excavation hazards and, thus, should also be a top priority.
Perhaps you already knew all of this. But, do you know whether your workers are adhering to safety guidelines onsite? The fact is that PPE can often be sometimes be inconvenient and workers may or may not be adhering to set safety standards. That’s why you need to appoint a safety in-charge for every site and encourage people to speak up when precautions aren’t being followed. You can even consider penalizing repeat offenders.
4. Underground Utilities
Beneath the surface of your excavation site, a complex network of pipes, cables, and conduits may be hidden, carrying crucial services such as water, gas, electricity, or telecommunications. Accidental contact with these utilities not only poses a risk to workers but can also disrupt essential services and result in costly repairs. Worse, it will ruin your reputation and damage your chances of being called back for another job.
To counter this, in addition to contacting the local 811, be sure to conduct an independent excavation risk assessment for unknown underground utilities. Engage the services of trained professionals who use specialized equipment, such as ground-penetrating radars or electromagnetic locators, to detect and map the presence of underground utilities.
5. Contaminated Soil
Hazardous soil, tainted by pollutants like heavy metals, chemicals, or petroleum products, pose multifaceted risks to both your workers and the environment,and is an increasingly common excavation danger.
When your team encounters contaminated soil, they need to follow set SOPs for containment, removal, and disposal. They also may also need to add on protective gear, depending on what PPE they are already wearing. Train, revise, retrain and ensure memory retention on the action plan to be followed in the event of a site showing signs of contamination. Teach workers to look for odors, discoloration and oil sheens, unlikely textures or uncharacteristic lack of vegetation and be sure that they take marking, segregation, handling and disposal of contaminated soil.
6. Explosive-related risks
In some types of rock excavation jobs, there’s no avoiding the use of explosives. Ensure repeated announcements and checks to ensure that all workers and bystanders maintain sufficient distance from the site earmarked for use of explosives. Even at a safe distance, ensure that everyone in the vicinity is wearing protective gear like hardhats and goggles—flying debris can be enabled by factors like wind.
Get citizens far, far away from the site and refuse to begin work if your safety standards are not being adhered to. Contact superiors at your client’s office, document ongoings and put your concerns on record. You’re better off delaying the job that making headlines for an explosive-related accident.
If your work falls in a zone where there are homes or commercial buildings in the neighborhood, it is critical that seismometers are installed near these structures to detect any detrimental forces from the blasts.
There’s also the risk of not getting paid enough (or not getting paid at all if the job is impossible): review geotechnical reports to understand if rock excavation can be reasonably expected, especially in the given timelines.
7. Passing traffic
Some excavations might take place in proximity to—or right in the middle of—high traffic areas. While your workers have their eyes on the ground, vehicles zoom at high speeds close enough to cause an accident. Such accidents could injure, or even kill, your workers, and pose just as much danger to people in the vehicles.
That’s you need safety features like jersey barricading, bright vests for workers, even brighter lights to alert oncoming traffic, and multiple diversions miles before the construction site to give drivers enough lead time to slow down.
Don’t forget to cover all your bases with insurance
In the face of unpredictable circumstances, the potential for mishaps looms large. And excavation jobs, as you’ll agree, are riddled with unpredictable circumstances.
Workplace injuries and onsite accidents not only pose immediate threats to your worker’s wellbeing and livelihood but also carry the weight of financial liabilities. Depending on the size of your business and the extent of an “injured on the job” claim, a single case could wipe your business out entirely. Damage to utility lines can cast a shadow on your reputation, especially if you lack the financial means to address the fallout.
That’s why you need insurance. You want to take the best precautions—that includes all the measures we’ve talked about in this blog, and also insurance.
SitePro protects your enterprise and your employees with comprehensive coverage tailor-made for your business—this includes heavy equipment coverage, worker’s compensation insurance, OSHA compliance and overall risk management.
Be proactive about protecting your excavation business, don’t wait for disaster to strike before you get the ultimate protection that insurance can offer. Contact us at info@nipgroup.com or (toll-free) 866 780 8076 and safeguard your business today.
