Install From Outside, Not Inside the Trench

I once read a trench cave-in rescue story that was made more complicated because the victim was tangled up with the vertical shore. I was curious because I've never heard of a vertical shore failing and creating a problem such as this. I did some research and located the rescue chief named in the article. After a few calls I had the rescue chief on the phone. He was ok with sharing the details.

It turned out that the victim was standing in the unshored trench holding the shore in place while his co-worker was in the process of pressurizing the shore using the hydraulic pump. Before they were able to install the shore, the trench sides caved in, burying the worker and only after much effort and nothing short of a miracle, the worker was rescued and survived.

Occasionally I think back to that rescue and what went through the victim's mind, or what should have gone through his mind prior to the cave-in.

The first question I think the victim should've asked is "Why are we installing this shoring system?"

The answer would be "Because of the dangers of a cave-in."

My next logical thought would be "Shouldn't we be installing this shore from outside of the trench; in case it caves in before we install it?"

The answer of course is "Every protective system must be installed outside of the trench, not inside the trench." In fact, there is NO protective system that is on the market that requires that the installer be positioned inside of the unshored trench to install it.

The reasoning is logical and is in fact covered in the OSHA Excavation Safety Standard.

For more information on this and other excavation safety principles please go to www.trenchandexcavationsafety.com