We had an accident here about a week ago, didn’t receive much attention. A licensed plumber was doign so work in someones yard and had to excavate to reach the pipes. He was working in the hole 20 feet down when part of the soil collapsed. he was dug out after 2-3 hours and taken to the hospital. I cannot imagine working in a narrow trench that deep without some shoring.
“Put your creed in your deed.” Emerson
“When asked if you can do something, tell’em “Why certainly I can”, then get busy and find a way to do it.” T. Roosevelt
Replies
six feet is too much in some cases!
I had a good opportunity to educate one of the young guys once. Had a trench dug from foundation to the well to run the supply lne in. It was about 6' near the cellar wall, and then four feet for most of it. I had a bridge plank set up about 15' out and seated on a spreader well back from either side. saw the 250# helper kid coming and told him, "Don't jump across the trench up there"
He ignored me and jumped it, so I called him over to me to explain why. He had simply been thinking I didn't believe he was capable of the leap safely. I was explaining why and how walls can easily be destabilized and fall in. While I was going over the basics with him, the trench wall collapsed from where he had landed and left 2' of soil to be shoveled back out by hand.
I think I read a story here about a guy working alone late on friday when something like this happened, with wet slump locking his lower legs buried and the shovel just out of reach... It was midnight before he got himself loose. A little more soil or a rainstorm moving in and he would have had real worries.
A friend of mine in CO met his end in a hole. As the cavein happened, he somehow braced himself over his 18YO some in the same hole to make a small airspace and protect him. 5-6 hours to dig them out and the Dad was gone, the son nearly so. both cyanotic and blackened skin
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
Yeah I was amazed that an experienced plumber would be 20 ft down. I need to find the article."Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
experience can mean contempt bred by long-standing luck - like a roofer walking the edge twenty feet up
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Funny you shoud mention roof, worked on a church years ago, it had snowed the night before, I got to the job early and was watching two roofers shovel the snow off this steeple roof, they had safety harnesses on, but THEY WEREN'T HOOKED TO ANYTHING!!, whoever occupied that church was looking out for those two a-holes! LOL
"If all else fails, read the directions"
By Staff Reports
Published: March 25, 2009
Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico county firefighters are working tonight to rescue a man who was buried up to his neck when a 20-foot-deep, 4-to 5-foot-wide trench collapsed this afternoon in South Richmond.
"We're in a race against time," Richmond Fire Department spokesman Lt. Shawn L. Jones said at about 6 p.m. He said rescue workers will have to dig the man out by hand and will be extracting the dirt from around him bucket by bucket.
The trapped man was given oxygen, administered fluids intravenously so he would not become dehydrated and covered with blankets. Officials said the biggest danger to him was exposure to cold in the ground.
Rescuers are laboring under a large piece of tarpaulin that was stretched between the roofs of two houses on either side of the trench to keep water from flowing into the hole from the rain.
Jones said emergency crews were called at 3:16 p.m. to the 2700 block of Grantwood Court, where the man had been repairing a sewer line in the trench. The site is off Forest Hill Avenue west of Chippenham Parkway.
Another man went into the hole to help and was able to remove some of the dirt, but the man remained stuck from the waist down, Jones said.
Firefighters were shoring up the walls of the hole to prevent further collapse, Jones said. They're also getting ventilation into the hole as a Henrico rescue team worked to get the man out. About 30 pieces of fire and special rescue equipment are at the scene, and personnel include firefighters, police and technical rescue teams.
"We do have verbal contact with him and have someone down with him in the hole," Jones said. The man did not appear to be injured, he said. "He's not complaining of any problems."
The project is not one being conducted by Richmond Department of Public Utilities crews or contractors, spokeswoman Angela Fountain said.
-- Bill McKelway
"Put your creed in your deed." Emerson
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt