Occupational Safety and Health Administration launched enhanced enforcement initiatives in the wake of the deaths of 22 workers from risks associated with trenching and excavation work in the first half of 2022.
OSHA pushed for additional enforcement to safeguard employees from known industry risks, according to a July 14 Department of Labor news release.
“The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is calling on all employers engaged in trenching and excavation activities to act immediately to ensure that required protections are fully in place every single time their employees step down into or work near a trench,” Doug Parker, assistant secretary of Occupational Safety and Health, said in the release.
An unsafe trench can leave workers buried and crushed under thousands of pounds of soil and rocks in a few seconds, Parker said, according to the release. The increase in the number of needless deaths and serious injuries in trenching incidents must end, he added.
All the tragedies could have been prevented by compliance with OSHA standards, Parker said, according to the release.
“There simply is no excuse for ignoring safety requirements to prevent trench collapses and cave-ins, and leaving families, friends and co-workers to grieve when the solutions are so well-understood,” he said, the release reported.
