ground disturbance

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# Part 31 Diving Operations (cont.) ## Intakes, pipes and tunnels (cont.) Section 441 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Part 32 AR 191/2021 # Part 32 Excavating and Tunnelling ## Disturbing the ground - 441 For the purpose of this Part, ground is disturbed if a work operation or activity on or under the existing surface results in a disturbance or displacement of the soil, but not if the disturbance or displacement is a result only of (a) routine, minor road maintenance, (b) agricultural cultivation to a depth of less than 450 millimetres below the ground surface over a pipeline, or (c) hand-digging to a depth of no more than 300 millimetres below the ground surface, SO long as it does not permanently remove cover over a buried facility. ## Classification of soil type 442(1) For the purpose of this Part, soil is classified as "hard and compact" if it closely exhibits most of the following characteristics: (a) it is hard in consistency and can be penetrated only with difficulty by a small, sharp object; (b) it is very dense; (c) it appears to be dry; (d) it has no signs of water seepage; (e) it is extremely difficult to excavate with hand tools; (f) if has not been excavated before. - 442(2) For the purpose of this Part, soil is classified as "likely to crack or crumble" if (a) it has been excavated before but does not exhibit any of the characteristics of "soft, sandy or loose" soil, or (b) it closely exhibits most of the following characteristics: (i) it is stiff in consistency and compacted; (ii) it can be penetrated with moderate difficulty with a small, sharp object; (iii) it is moderately difficult to excavate with hand tools; (iv) it has a low to medium natural moisture content and a damp appearance after it is excavated; (v) it exhibits signs of surface cracking; (vi) it exhibits signs of localized water seepage. - 442(3) For the purposes of this Part, soil is classified as "soft, sandy or loose" if it close…

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# Part 32 Excavating and Tunnelling (cont.) ## Classification of soil type (cont.) Section 443 # OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Part 32 AR 191/2021 (b) it is easy to excavate with hand tools; (c) it is solid in appearance but flows or becomes unstable when disturbed; (d) it runs easily into a well-defined conical pile when dry; (e) it appears to be wet; (f) it is granular below the water table, unless water has been removed from it; (g) it exerts substantial hydraulic pressure when a support system is used. - 442(4) If an excavation contains soil of more than one soil type, for the purposes of this Part an employer must operate as if all of it is the soil type with the least stability. ## Soil stabilization - 443(1) Subject to subsection (2), an employer must stabilize the soil in (a) an excavation by shoring or cutting back, or (b) a tunnel, underground shaft or pit by shoring. - 443(2) An employer may stabilize the soil in an excavation, tunnel, underground shaft or pit using an artificial soil stabilization technique, including freezing soil by artificial means or grouting if the process used is (a) designed by a professional engineer to control soil conditions, and (b) performed in accordance with the professional engineer's specifications. - 443(3) A person must not use natural freezing of the soil as an alternative or partial alternative to a temporary protective structure, or to stabilize the soil in an excavation, tunnel or underground shaft. AR 191/2021 s443;242/2022 ## Marking an excavation 444 If there is a danger of a worker or equipment falling into an excavation, an employer must ensure that workers are made aware of the excavation through flagging, marking, safeguards or other appropriate and effective means. ## Water hazard 445 An employer must ensure that an excavation that a worker may be required or permitted to enter is kept free of an accumulation of water that may pose a hazard to the worker. ## Worker acc…

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# OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE (cont.) Section 1 # OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Part 1 AR 191/2021 "temporary supporting structures" means falsework, forms, fly form deck panels, shoring, braces or cables that are used to support a structure temporarily or to stabilize materials or earthworks until they are self-supporting or their instability is otherwise overcome and includes a thrustout materials landing platform; "tending worker" means a worker designated by an employer under section 56(1); "total fall distance" means the vertical distance from the point at which a worker falls to the point where the fall stops after all personal fall arrest system components have extended; "total particulate" means airborne particulate collected and analyzed using NIOSH Method 0500, Particulates Not Otherwise Regulated, Total; "tower crane" means a crane that (a) is designed to incorporate a power-driven drum and cable, a rope and a vertical mast or a tower and jib, (b) is of the travelling, fixed or climbing type, and (c) is not used to lift people; "tower hoist" means a hoist (a) with a tower that is an integral part of it or supports it, (b) that travels between fixed guides, and (c) that is not used to lift people; "travel restraint system" means a type of fall protection system, including guardrails or similar barriers, that prevents a worker from travelling to the edge of a structure or to a work position from which the worker could fall; "trench" means a long, narrow dug out area of ground that is deeper than its width at the bottom; "tunnel" in Part 36 means an underground passage with an incline of less than 45 degrees from the horizontal; "UIAA" means the Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme; "ULC" means the Underwriters Laboratories of Canada; "underground coal mine electrical superintendent" repealed AR 242/2022 s2; "underground coal mine foreman" repealed AR 242/2022 s2; "underground coal mine manager" repealed AR …

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# OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE (cont.) ## Alternatives to temporary protective structures (cont.) Section 458 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Part 32 AR 191/2021 - 457(4) Despite section 456, an employer may install additional protection certified by a professional engineer in trenches to compensate for passing vehicular traffic, working machinery or a heavy object placed within a distance equal to the depth of the trench, measured from the near edge of the bottom of the trench to the traffic, machinery or heavy object. - 457(5) Despite section 456, an employer may install additional protection certified by a professional engineer in a trench to compensate for the stress created because the trench is adjacent to or abuts a building or other structure. ## Installation of shoring, stringers or bracing - 458(1) An employer must ensure that a worker who installs shoring, stringers or bracing uses a ladder and works down from the top of the trench, installing each brace in descending order. - 458(2) An employer must ensure that a worker who removes shoring, stringers or bracing uses a ladder and works upward from the bottom of the trench, removing each brace in ascending order. - 458(3) A worker must install shoring, stringers or bracing in accordance with subsection (1) and remove them in accordance with subsection (2). - 458(4) Despite subsections (2) and (3), if the quality of the ground in which a trench has been dug has deteriorated during operations to the extent that it is unsafe to use the method of removal required by subsection (2), an employer must ensure that the shoring, stringers or bracing are removed using a method that does not require the worker to be in the trench. ## Access for powered mobile equipment 459 An employer must ensure that the open side of an excavation or a route used by powered mobile equipment to gain access to an excavation has a barrier high enough to stop the equipment from sliding or rolling into the excavat…

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# OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE (cont.) ## Worker access (cont.) Section 447 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Part 32 AR 191/2021 ## Locating buried or concrete-embedded facilities - 447(1) For the purposes of subsection (1.1) and section 448, an owner means an owner or the owner's designate of a pipeline that is within 30 metres of the work site or any other buried or concrete-embedded facility that may be affected by the ground disturbance or removal of existing concrete. - 447(1.1) Before the ground is disturbed or existing concrete is removed at a work site, an employer must (a) contact the owner, (b) advise the owner of the proposed activities, (c) ask the owner to identify and mark the location of the buried or concrete-embedded facility, and (d) not begin disturbing the ground or removing the existing concrete until buried or concrete- embedded facilities have been identified and their locations marked. - 447(2) An employer must ensure that workers are aware of locate marks for buried or concrete-embedded facilities. - 447(3) An employer must ensure that steps are taken to re-establish the locate marks for buried or concrete-embedded facilities if activities at the work site move or destroy the locate marks. - 447(4) Despite subsection (1.1), an employer may use as built record drawings of the buried or concrete-embedded facilities for locating the buried or concrete-embedded facilities if (a) the work does not require excavation or removal of the soil, ground or existing concrete, and (b) the ground is penetrated to a depth of 1 metre or less or the existing concrete is penetrated to depth of 150 millimetres or less. (5) The as-built record drawings referred to in subsection (4) must be certified by the owner of the buried or concrete-embedded facility as the most current drawings of record that indicate the constructed location of the buried or concrete-embedded facility. a ## Exposing buried facilities - 448(1) An employ…

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# OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Index hazardous energy, 1 operate, 1 contact by clothing, PPE and any other thing, 362 for domestic workers, 1.2(3) fire and explosion hazards, precautions, 165(3), 165(5) for moving workers, 364 See also hazardous energy control; machinery; personal protective equipment (PPE); respiratory protective equipment; specifications, certifications and standards; toilets and washing facilities; tools equivalent dose, maximum defined, 1 See also ionizing radiation; radiation exposure escape routes haul roads in mine sites, 539(2) oil, gas and thermal energy, 762 from work areas, 119(4)-(5) See also emergency response; underground mines ethylene dibromide (1,2 dibromoethane) code of practice required, 26, Schedule 1, Table 1 ethylene oxide code of practice required, 26, Schedule 1, Table 1 OEL, Schedule 1, Table 2 evacuation See emergency response; underground mines excavating and tunneling, 441-464 defined disturbing the ground, 441 excavation, 1 hand expose zone, 1 hard and compact soil, 442(1) likely to crack or crumble soil, 442(2) soft, sandy, or loose soil, 442(3) spoil pile, 1 trench, 1 buried or concrete-embedded facilities, 447-448 certifications and specifications by engineer ground formation, certification, 449 soil stabilization, certification, 443(2) specifications and certifications, generally, 12-15.1 temporary protective structures, specifications, 456 temporary protective structures in trenches, certifications, 457(4)-(5) tunnel excavation, 464(1) cutting back walls, 450(1)(a), 450(1)(c), 451 disturbing the ground, application of Code, 441 entry and exit, 446, 455 ground formation certification by engineer, 449 marking an excavation, 444 mechanical excavation equipment location, 448(1)- (2), 448(5) power pole support, 454 powered mobile equipment access and block, 459- 460 protection methods, 450-451 shoring component dimensions, 457, Schedule 9 shoring component dimensions for excavations, Schedule 9 soils soil class…

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# OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE (cont.) ## Methods of protection (cont.) Section 451 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE Part 32 AR 191/2021 (a) cutting back the walls of the excavation to reduce the height of the remaining vertical walls, if any, to no more than 1.5 metres for "hard and compact soil" and "likely to crack or crumble soil", (b) installing temporary protective structures, or (c) using a combination of the methods in clauses (a) and (b). - 450(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if a trench is constructed in solid rock throughout the entire trench. ## Cutting back walls - 451 If the walls of an excavation are cut back, an employer must ensure that (a) if the soil is classified as "hard and compact soil", the walls are sloped to within 1.5 metres of the bottom of the excavation at an angle of not less than 30 degrees measured from the vertical, (b) if the soil is classified as "likely to crack or crumble soil", the walls are sloped to within 1.5 metres of the bottom of the excavation at an angle of not less than 45 degrees measured from the vertical, and (c) if the soil is classified as "soft, sandy or loose soil", the walls are sloped from the bottom of the excavation at an angle of not less than 45 degrees measured from the vertical. ## Loose materials 452 An employer must ensure that loose materials are scaled and trimmed from the sides of an excavation if workers may be on or near the sides. ## Spoil piles - 453 An employer must ensure that a spoil pile is piled so that (a) the leading edge of the pile is at least 1 metre away from the edge of the excavation, (b) the slope of a spoil pile adjacent to the excavation is at an angle of not more than 45 degrees from the horizontal, and (c) loose materials are scaled and trimmed from the spoil pile. ## Power pole support 454 An employer must ensure that work that disturbs the ground in the vicinity of an overhead power line is performed in a manner that does not reduce …

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# OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE (cont.) Section 1 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE AR 191/2021 Part 1 (b) mobile communications systems, (c) remote control signal stations, (d) industrial radiofrequency heaters, (e) equipment used for geophysical surveys, (f) radar, (g) overhead power lines, and (h) any other source of electromagnetic radiation; "emergency first aider" repealed AR 242/2022 s2; "emergency medical responder" means an emergency medical responder registered under the Paramedics Profession Regulation (AR 151/2016); "emergency response plan" means the emergency response plan required under Part 7; "energy-isolating device" means a device that prevents the transmission or release of hazardous energy; "equivalent dose" means the amount of energy of ionizing radiation, in millisieverts, absorbed in a unit of mass of irradiated tissue or organ multiplied by the appropriate radiation weighting factor, as determined in accordance with the 2007 Recommendations of the International Commission on Radiological Protection. ICRP Publication 103. Ann. ICRP 2007; 37 (2-4); "excavation" in Part 32 means a dug out area of ground but does not include a tunnel, underground shaft or pit; "excess noise" means noise that exceeds the limits specified in section 218; "explosive" repealed AR 202/2024 s2; "explosive atmosphere" means an atmosphere that (a) contains a substance in a mixture with air, under atmospheric conditions and at a concentration between the substance's lower explosive limit and upper explosive limit, and (b) is capable of producing destructive effects to adjacent objects or of killing or injuring a person; "exposed worker" means a worker who may reasonably be expected to work in a restricted area at least 30 work days in a 12-month period; "fall arresting device" means a part of a worker's personal protective equipment that stops the worker's fall and does not allow the worker to fall farther; "fall protection system" means …