Review of Regulations and Guides for Excavation and Trenches—Comparison with the Québec Safety Code for the Construction Industry
Publication: Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 14, Issue 4
Abstract
With all serious and fatal accidents occurring every year in excavation and trench work worldwide, governmental authorities recognize the dangerous nature of excavation and trench work. Regulations have been written containing a series of measures to be followed in order to protect workers in excavation and trench work. This paper sums up a review of regulations and guides in excavation and trench work of several countries. All involve a soil classification based on the description of the soils and the hydraulic conditions and the adoption of safe slopes based on the classification, while, in its current version, the Québec Safety Code for the Construction Industry (S-2.1, r.6) does not mention this important information. Thus, there is a need to update section 3.15.3 of S-2.1, r.6. Since a proposal for soil classification, taking into account the impact of the soft sensitive clay in Québec was not accepted by the review committee of S-2.1, r.6 in 1989, a research project will be submitted soon for funding to review section 3.15.3 of S-2.1, r.6.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
References
ASP Construction. (2006). Les tranchées et les excavations—Guide de prévention, Association sectorielle paritaire-Secteur Construction, ASP Construction, Montréal.
Ballivy, G., Loiselle, A., and Pouliot, G. (1975). “Quelques caractéristiques géotechniques des dépôts d’argile de la baie James: les coulées d’argile de Fort Rupert.” Can. Geotech. J., 12(4), 498–509 (in French).
British Standards Institution. (1981). “Code of practice for earthworks.” BS 6031, London.
Bureau de normalisation du Québec. (1987). “Construction works-general specifications-drinking water and sewer lines.” NQ 1809-300, Quebec.
Chagnon, J. -Y. (1985). “Rapport sur la rupture d’une tranchée-rue Turcotte, Cap-Rouge (Québec).” Québec Occupational Health and Safety Board, Quebec.
Construction Industry Research and Information Association (CIRIA). (1983). Trenching practice, CIRIA, London.
Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO). (1993). Construction health and safety manual, CSAO, Etobicoke, Ont.
Construction Safety Association of Ontario (CSAO). (1999). Trenching safety—Introduction to technical hazards, CSAO, Etobicoke, Ont.
Culver, C., Florczack, G., Castell, R., Connolly, C., and Pelton, G. (1990). “Analysis of construction fatalities—The OSHA data base 1985–1989.” Rep. Prepared for U.S. Department of Labor, Washington, D.C.
Hoek, E., and Bray, J. W. (1981). Rock slope engineering, 3rd Ed., Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, London.
Lafleur, J. (1986). “Safety code for workers in excavations upgraded in Québec.” Geotech. News, December, 38–39.
Lafleur, J., Chiasson, P., Asselin, R., and Ducharme, A. (1987). “Évaluation des risques pour les travailleurs dans les excavations.” Rep. No. GEO-87-001, Dept. of Civil Engineering, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Québec, 141 (in French).
Lafleur, J., Silvestry, V., Asselin, R., and Soulié, M. (1988). “Short-term behaviour of a test excavation in soft clay Champlain Sea clay.” Can. Geotech. J., 25, 705–715.
Lafleur, J., Soulié, M., and Silvestri, V. (1989). “Pressions interstitielles autour d'une fouille expérimentale dans l'argile molle.” Proc., Symp. Int. Sur Les Glissements De Terrain Lausanne, Balkema, Rotterdam, The Netherlands, 707–712 (in French).
Martinez, A. (1994). “Les accidents de fouilles en tranchées.” Cahiers des comités de prévention et des travaux publics, Organisme Professionnel de Prévention du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics (OPPBTP), Boulogne-Billancourt, France, 6, 15–19 .
MMWR. (2004). “Occupational fatalities during trenching and excavation work—United States, 1992–2001.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report—April 23, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (1926a). 550-Scope, Application, and definitions applicable to subpart P, OSHA, Washington, D.C.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (1926b). 651-Specific Excavation Requirements, OSHA, Washington, D.C.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). (1926c). 652-Requirements for protection systems, OSHA, Washington, D.C.
Ontario Ministry of Labour. (1991). “Occupational health and safety act and regulations for construction projects 691.” 691, Ont.
Ontario Ministry of Labour. (2007). Occupational health and safety act–Ontario regulation 213/91, Ont.
Organisme Professionnel de Prévention du Bâtiment et des Travaux Publics (OPPBTP). (1989). Guide pratique de travaux de fouilles en tranchées, OPPBTP, Boulogne-Billancourt, France.
Quebec Safety Code for the Construction Industry. (2007). S-2.1, r.6, Les Publications du Quebéc, Quebec.
Rice, A. (1992). “Shoring and trenching-implementing a training program for safe trenching procedure.” Occup. Health Saf., 8(2), 60–74.
Stanevick, R. L., and Middleton, D. C. (1988). “An explanatory analysis of excavation cave-in fatalities.” Prof. Saf., 33, 24–28.
Team-Safety. (2003). “2003 trenching and excavation fatality related analysis by the directorate of construction.” ⟨http://www.safety.com⟩ (Jan. 5, 1997).
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction
Volume 14 • Issue 4 • November 2009
Pages: 201 - 209
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: May 22, 2007
Accepted: Mar 11, 2009
Published online: Oct 15, 2009
Published in print: Nov 2009
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.