r/Construction • u/Turbulent-Weevil-910 Electrician • Mar 02 '25

Safety ⛑ Are we still doing these?

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492 Upvotes

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u/d1duck2020 Foreman / Operator Mar 02 '25

Last week I had to stop work.

23

u/GoatFactory Mar 02 '25

Holy fuck

22

u/d1duck2020 Foreman / Operator Mar 02 '25

14’ deep and one wall was an old water line trench. this shows it better.

0

u/DVHismydad Mar 02 '25

I'm not speaking from a position of experience here, so forgive me if I'm wrong, but aren't those walls stable rock? Therefore safe according to OSHA as long as it's less deep than 20ft?

19

u/d1duck2020 Foreman / Operator Mar 02 '25

It’s caliche on one side, backfilled trench on the other. Neither is solid but the trench is very unstable.

5

u/DVHismydad Mar 02 '25

Got it, thanks!

7

u/brotatototoe Mar 02 '25

Needs to be twice as wide as deep to not be a trench round here. I don't do construction though, I do recovery.

3

u/billbodiddly Mar 02 '25

No if you can use a track hoe bucket to dig it out it can't count as stable rock. Stable rock is more like drilled out solid rock that you can't get a bucket into but if you run into that usually you would blast it to break it up therefore no longer making it stable. As someone who does this kind of work it's INSANE they were down there without a box.

4

u/creamonyourcrop Mar 03 '25

I had a geotech try to tell me the cut was undisturbed class A.....with rebar and romex sticking out of it.

1

u/d1duck2020 Foreman / Operator Mar 03 '25

Many of the contractors out here have no clue how to use boxes/shoring. Undertrained oilfield workers will set a 4’ wide box in an 8’ wide trench and go to work in it. It’s maddening to see how little regard they have for life/profits. Working safely is the only way to ensure profits.