When a ladder is required in a trench
Reviewed by Julie Gunn, Head of Services, SALUS Safety
The question, as asked: When does the ladder need to be used in a trench?
A person submitted this question to Rosie's free generator. The asker's identity is neither imported nor published.
Rosie's answer
Published by SALUSA ladder, stairway, ramp, or other safe means of egress must be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth 1, 2. The egress must be placed so that there is no more than 25 feet (7.62 m) of lateral travel required for employees to reach it 1, 2. In some jurisdictions, if a worker is required to enter a trench that is more than 1.5 meters deep, a safe point of entering and leaving must be located not more than 8 meters from the worker [1].
Sources used for this answer
[1] Occupational Health and Safety Code
Page 233
Open source documentSource excerpt
- (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 the original support provided for power line poles. ## Safe entry and exit 455 (1) An employer must ensure that if a worker is required to enter a tren…