Welcome to the Trench re-certification for 2020

Motivation

Trench cave-ins are silent, but deadly killers. According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) (n.d.), trenching kills on average 40 workers every year. The objectives of this refresher training are to provide you with a review of basic concepts relating to trench emergencies, safety around trenches, and considerations during initial response operations. After a review of the material contained herein, personnel will be expected to take and pass an exam to an accuracy of at least 80%. All of the material contained herein is subject to placement on the exam.

As with any "accident", deaths from trench cave-ins are preventable. Please watch the following video from OSHA on preventing injuries during trenching.

Definitions

Per OSHA regulation 1926, Safety and Health Regulations for Construction, Subpart P, a trench is a narrow excavation made below the surface of the ground that is deeper than it is wide, but the width is not greater than 15 feet. Per OSHA, trenches greater than five feet in depth require shoring or other approved protective systems. The MCFRS Technical Rescue Team will put a shoring system into place for any trench greater than four feet deep.

Some common definitions relating to trenches are as follows:

• Spoil Pile-The material excavated from the trench
• Kickout-Accidental release or failure of a crossbrace

The following slide has some more definitions with pictures:

Initial Response

Just like every other call that has the potential to require a specialty team response, i.e. water, rail, collapse, trench, etc., personnel need to slow down and perform a thorough assessment of the factors leading up to the scene (weather, time of day, possible human population), then the scene itself (access, terrain, hazards, exposures), and use this information to perform a risk/benefit analysis and determine an action plan that can be clearly communicated to others on the call.

General Approach

The four common objectives to all technical rescue incidents include:

• Assess: Assess the scene, determine the most appropriate travel routes and staging areas, identify hazards, and conduct a risk analysis;
• Control: Control hazards, isolate, remove any bystanders and deny entry, identify hazards, and establish isolation zones;
• Rescue: Use appropriate methods and equipment to separate people from hazards;
• Evacuate: Remove victims to safety.

Acceptable Risk

According to Policy and Procedure 24-01, Incident Response Policy, Appendix A, "MCFRS seeks to reduce the risks associated with any incident to the lowest achievable level without compromising the mission:

• We will extend calculated risk to save savable lives.
• We will accept limited risk to save savable property.
• We will not risk Firefighter lives for lives or property that cannot be saved.

Personnel should view the following slide show, which covers expected actions during initial response to trench emergencies.