Several industry partners formed an alliance on June 22 with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect workers form hazards in trenching and excavation.
The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM), Associated General Contractors, Common Ground Alliance, International Union of Operating Engineers, National Utility Contractors Association, North American Excavation Shoring Association (NAXSA), and Laborers’ International Union of North American took part in a signing ceremony at the U.S. Department of Labor’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., with Amanda Edens, deputy assistant secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
For more than five years AEM has worked to establish a collaborative relationship with OSHA to foster safety and health practices and programs to improve workplaces and jobsites in the United States. This agreement between OSHA and the Partners for Safe Trenching and Excavation Operations Alliance will help address and highlight best practices for hazardous construction work.
“Sadly in 2022, we saw a dramatic and disturbing increase in the number of workers who died in trench collapses,” said Assistant Secretary for Occupational Safety and Health Doug Parker. “We know that awareness and vigilance save lives. Joining with the Partners for Safe Trenching and Excavation Operations Alliance is an important collaboration to help ensure that industry employers are taking the precautions required to keep every worker who enters or works near a trench safe.”
Trenching, excavation, and shoring safety will be the primary focus for the alliance’s participating organizations.
Click here to learn more about the alliance.
Click here to read the latest “Safety Matters” column on trenching and excavation safety from Water Well Journal®.