Can You Dig It? The Basics of Trenching Safety Excavations and trenches have become so commonplace on work sites that some employers and employees have developed a sense of complacency with some ...

A Bucyrus 14-B shovel perched on timbers digs a trench from the front with long-stick shovel.Photo: Bucyrus International A Bucyrus 30C steam shovel is shown with sewer shovel attachement.Photo: ...

The trench boxes were also extremely helpful in the conditions experienced along the pipeline install. "There are two advantages to using a trench box rather than open cut.

The trench only needs to be 1 foot wide, and even a trench just 6 inches wide can suffice. If you need to use a digging machine, you may end up with a trench 16 or 24 inches wide.

Rescue teams worked in 20-minute intervals for safety and used a trench box and shoring materials to protect personnel during the digging process, KCKFD stated.