Excavation & trenching

This module is a register of open excavations and trenches under OSHA 1926 Subpart P. It captures the soil, protective-system, egress, and atmosphere checks for each dig, and tracks the daily competent-person inspection (1926.651(k)) until backfill.

Register an excavation

1. Go to Excavation / trenching and use the Register an excavation form.
2. Enter the site, an excavation/trench ID, the location, and the competent person (pick from your roster or type a name).
3. Record the soil type, depth, and protective system — plus the slope ratio or spoil setback where they apply — and tick the egress, atmosphere, and water-control checks that are in place.
4. Record the underground-utility locate: tick Underground utilities located (811), enter the Locate ticket reference, and set Locate ticket expires on so you know when the locate must be refreshed.
5. Set the opened-on date and select Register excavation.

Inspect and backfill

1. While an excavation is open, click Log inspection to record a competent-person inspection — the status column shows the latest inspection date.
2. Click Flag changed conditions after a rainstorm or other hazard-increasing occurrence (1926.651(k)(1)) — it forces an immediate re-inspection by moving the inspection due date to now.
3. When the work is done, click Backfill to close it out; the badge switches from open to backfilled, and the dig leaves the inspection cycle.

The compliance checks

Each open excavation is evaluated against Subpart P: cave-in protection required deeper than 5 ft (except stable rock), a registered-professional-engineer design deeper than 20 ft, the maximum allowable slope for the soil type, a 2 ft spoil setback, ladder/egress within 25 ft for trenches 4 ft or deeper, atmospheric testing where a hazardous atmosphere is possible, and water control. Every inspection's audit entry lists the open gaps found.

What happens automatically

• Daily inspection escalation: an inspection is due one day after the last one (or after the opened-on date). Once an open excavation's inspection is overdue, the escalation sweep sends the competent person (or the Safety Team, if none is named) a notification — "Excavation daily inspection overdue" — linking back to this page. Backfilled excavations never escalate.
• Cave-in danger escalation: an open excavation that requires cave-in protection but has none now escalates to the Safety Team ("Excavation without cave-in protection: (id)") — even when the daily inspection is current — and stays escalated until a protective system is in place or the trench is backfilled. Set who's emailed for that queue under notification routing.
• The dashboard counts open excavations, excavations needing attention, and open digs without required cave-in protection.
• An open excavation with recorded inspection defects is highlighted red in the list.
• Export register CSV downloads the register with soil, protection, utility-locate status, and open gaps (api/excavations/register.csv).

Follow up

Raise a CAPA on any excavation row to drive a follow-up to closure; the row then links to that CAPA.

Tip: filter by Site to see one location's open digs, and inspect daily — the register is your evidence that the competent-person requirement was met.

Related

• Confined spaces — Atmospheric-tested entry permits for enclosed spaces
• Permits to work — Authorize higher-risk excavation work
• Worker credentials & licences — Competent-person credential gating on approval
• Job hazard analysis — Break excavation work into hazards and controls