New figures have revealed a rise in the number of unsafe excavation work being carried out on construction sites across the UK.

The Building Safety Group (BSG) has reported a 16% rise in excavation work breaches on sites between October and December last year.

The figure is based on around 11,000 independent inspections carried out over a six-month period comparing Q3 with Q4 in 2017.

BSG has warned injuries resulting from excavation trench collapses can often be severe and at times fatal. Last year, the director of a housing development company (Conquest Homes) was jailed for gross negligence manslaughter after a ground worker was crushed to death in a building site trench. In addition, Mason Construction (London) was fined £25,000 when a worker suffered burn injuries after striking underground electrical cables.


The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) advises that construction managers must ensure that excavations are made safe, by setting up trench supports, battering back, fencing or other equally effective measures. Companies should also provide training for staff, highlighting the risks of excavation work. In addition weekly trench inspections should take place, particularly after bad weather.

Paul Kimpton, Managing Director of the BSG, said injuries can be prevented if companies implement safe methods of working and providing the necessary information and training for workers.

"Excavations must be properly planned, managed and monitored to ensure no one enters an excavation deeper than 1.2m, without adequate controls in place to prevent a collapse," he said.

"Without suitable support, any face of an excavation will collapse; it's just a matter of when. The steeper and deeper the face, the wetter the soil, the sooner the collapse."

Mr Kimpton added: "Trenchless technologies are available which will help to avoid many of the hazards of excavation, but if a trench is required modern, approved systems can allow the ground support to be installed without the need to enter the excavation."

(LM/MH)