Page 14 - West Virgina 811 Magazine 2020 Issue 4

L AreYouPrepared? By David Dow
et’s assume your company has an excellent safety program. You’ve been trained and designated as the “Competent Person” on site. All the workers on your crew have, likewise, been appropriately trained. Trench protection systems (sloping, shoring or shielding) are in use. You even have an emergency plan in place, and so on. Now, let’s also assume that another contractor near your site has taken a few shortcuts. Suddenly one of that contractor’s workers comes
yelling, “A man’s been buried! We need your help!
This fellow was OK. And very lucky. This dramatic photo is from a cave‐in on a jobsite in North Carolina. The young man was working in a trench that was only five feet deep. Fortunately, rescue workers arrived in time to pull him to safety. Tragically, 100 or so construction workers are killed by trench cave‐ins each year across the U.S. And virtually every death could have been prevented. Don’t let this scene be repeated on one of your job sites. It will probably turn out a lot worse than this one did.
What do you do?
Below are some suggestions:
• Stay calm.
• Take charge of the jobsite until trained rescuers arrive at the scene. (Firefighters and rescue teams often refer to this person as the “Incident Commander.”)
• Get everyone out of the trench and account for all workers.
• Call 911 and/or your company’s rescue team and report the cave- in. Be prepared to have someone meet the trained rescuers at a readily identifiable address or landmark (if the construction site is difficult to find).
• Keep everyone who is not directly involved in the rescue at least 100 feet from the trench or excavation.
• Shut down all equipment except pumps used for removing water in the immediate vicinity of the cave-in. Likewise, stop or
Because of delayed response times, generally OSHA will not accept a local fire department as a rescue team, unless the local fire department agrees to standby at the job site. A lack of proper equipment and proper training can also be an issue with fire departments.
12 • West Virginia 811 2020, Issue 4