Increasing Awareness of Factors that Influence Trench Safety
Originally presented on May 28th, 2020.
Moderator: Eileen Betit, CPWR’s Research to Practice (r2p) Director
Presenters:
Scott Ketcham, Director, OSHA Directorate of Construction
Joe Wise, Regional Customer Training Manager at United Rentals Trench Safety
Dr. Alan Echt, Sr. Industrial Hygienist, NIOSH Office of Construction Safety and Health
Trench incidents and fatalities have increased over the past several years – so much so that OSHA, intent on reversing this trend, updated its National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavation in October 2018. Learn about a collaborative effort to increase awareness of the factors that may contribute to trenching incidents and ways to mitigate the risks. You will have the option of submitting questions for the panelists in advance.
Edit: In the slope example provided during the second presentation, we mistakenly stated that that the slope would be 13 feet based on a bottom width measurement of 5 feet. To be more accurate, the bottom width measurement in this example should have been 3 feet.
