Working in the Trenches – OSHA vs HSE
I have had a few difficulties on site when it comes to workers operating in excavations and trenches whilst on attachment in the US. The areas the workers have been in often have slopes that appear near vertical in their cut and what I could class as significant in height. When I have questioned this to the H&S Manager on site, they have stated that support is only required when the excavation or trench is 5 foot (1.5 metres) or more. Access and egress points only need to be placed for 4 foot or more, but still no support is required at this depth. Alternatively, they can be cut back with a step, or at a 45 degree angle dependant on the ground, but this is just as difficult to enforce on site as well. The problem is exacerbated by the following:
- The areas they are often working in is a mixture of a very loose sandy material above a consolidated clay layer; walking near the excavation can often result in slips of the material then falling into the trench.
- Spoil heaps are placed nearby to any excavation, OSHA does not specify a minimum distance, just a ‘safe distance’ judged by a competent person. I’ve often seen this for a spoil heap up to 3m high, less than 2 metres away from a trench. When the competent person is the H&S Manager who classifies 5 foot of unsupported excavation as safe, you can imagine their idea of a ‘safe distance’ when it comes to spoil heaps.
The problem I seem to be having is that if I comment or ask for a trench to be supported, or spoil moved back, I’m simply met with a response that this is per the OSHA requirements. When compared to HSE, they removed the previous 1.2 metre (4 foot) rules as excavation and trench support depends on the ground conditions and other risks. I wish this was the case for OSHA but I’m at a bit of a brick wall when it comes to the H&S Manager. I’ve passed up my concerns to the principal contractor and to my CoC at USACE, but met with the same thing; as long as they are within OSHA guidance the H&S Manager is technically correct. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t get the warm fuzzy feeling going into a 5-foot unsupported trench with loose material surrounding me, especially if I’m on my hands and knees working on utilities.
To put it into a statistical perspective, OSHA reported in 2022 that 39 workers were killed in the construction due to trench and excavation collapse (OSHA, 2023). In the UK for the same year, across all worker industries, 12 people were killed by collapses or being trapped (HSE, 2023). This may not even be related to excavations, but no deeper data can be found, but I think it’s easy to conclude that excavation related fatalities are rampant across the US compared to the UK.
Has anyone else encountered something like this before or could offer any professional advice on how to move forward?
Sources: OSHA Excavation Deaths Statistics 2022, more information can be found at https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/23703-trenching-and-excavation?page=1.
HSE Work-related fatal injuries in Great Britain 2022/23, available at https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/fatals.htm.
Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog 
39 plays 12 does not seem like a good balance between USA and UK. I suspect we are not comparing eggs with eggs. Meeting the OSHA requirements is the contractual measure of compliance not a measure of safety. As a leaser in the engineering industry there is also an ethical obligation to society and indivudals, not least of which is to protect fellow workers from potential harm. Each of your scenarios warrants closer investigation. Did you as an engineer feel that the excavation in caly, albeit with some overlying sand was unstable or was it just a need to provide edge protection to stop people and unwanted debris falling in on operatives? Is the spoil heap adjacent to a trench unsafe/unstable; which is a different case to the excavation? Have you seen any unanticipated ground movement/collapses or slips?