Trench Safety–Using a Qualitative Approach to Understand Barriers and Develop Strategies to Improve Trenching Practices

Abstract

Despite efforts to ensure workplace safety and health, injuries and fatalities related to trenching and excavation remain alarmingly high in the construction industry. Because properly installed trenching protective systems can potentially reduce the significant number of trenching fatalities, there is clearly a need to identify the barriers to the use of these systems and to develop strategies to ensure these systems are utilized consistently. The current study reports on the results of focus groups with construction workers and safety management personnel to better understand these barriers and to identify solutions. The results suggest several factors, from poor planning to pressures from experienced workers and supervisors, which present barriers to safe trenching practices. Based on the results, it is recommended that safety trainings incorporate unique messages for new workers, experienced workers and management in an effort to motivate each group to work safely as well as provide them with solutions to overcome the identified barriers.

Evaluation of toolbox safety training in construction: The impact of narratives

“…On the other hand, attention must be given to the fostering of this openness to change lest it be snuffed out by the dominant attitudes of the more experienced workers. These findings are in keeping with both Flynn and Sampson and Paap . Unfortunately, due to an error in duplication of project materials on the post‐intervention questionnaire, many individuals were not administered the complete training impact questionnaire.…”

“…There is some support for this phenomenon in the literature. For example, Flynn and Sampson 19 report that less experienced workers complained that they were frequently prevented from implementing better OSH practices by the more experienced workers who dominated the safety culture in their company. In an excellent ethnographic study, Paap 20 describes a construction culture dominated by entrenched hierarchies.…”

A Review on Construction Safety: Hazards, Mitigation Strategies, and Impacted Sectors

“…Individual risk-taking tendencies may influence a construction worker to minimize the safety hazard and neglect protocol, increasing the likelihood of an accident [92]. Thus, adequate safety training should focus on enhancing hazard cognition and increasing the workers' awareness of potential hazards [28,82]. The vigorous nature of construction sites requires individuals to maintain situational awareness to detect and effectively respond to the presence of hazards and their evolving surroundings [76].…”

Immersive virtual reality training for excavation safety and hazard identification

“…Existing strategies and safety standards have significantly improved construction's health and safety performance over the last few decades. However, excavation-related accidents continue to plague the industry (Flynn and Sampson, 2012). In the first half of 2022, 22 workers were killed in excavation works in the United States, surpassing 1 in all of 2021 (OSHA, 2022).…”