Despite regulations and hundreds of fatalities, employees still work in unprotected trenches. OSHA has had a trench emphasis for years, with many documented cases of inspectors pulling workers out of a trench to educate them about the hazards, only to have the trench collapse behind them.
In their QuickTakes bulletin, OSHA reports it has three new guidance products to educate employers and workers about the hazards in trenching operations. The new products include a fact sheet*, QuickCard* and a poster* that warns, “An Unprotected Trench is an Early Grave.”
The three documents may be ordered in English- and Spanish-language versions from the Publications page of OSHA’s Web site. See the news release for more information.