Excavations and earthmoving plant in construction
Earthmoving plant and excavations can be dangerous, and you must take precautions. The result of an incident involving earthmoving plant or excavations can be fatal.
Excavation work commonly involves the removal of soil or rock from a site to form an open face, hole or cavity, or to fill or partly fill an excavation.
Work connected with an excavation is considered ‘construction work’. As result, work health safety laws relating to construction also apply to excavations.
Don't dig blind! Before you start any excavation you must first check with Before You Dig Australia so that you know the location of essential utilities and services.
Download the PCBU safety checklist for earthmoving plant and excavations (PDF, 669.46 KB)
View the top three types of safety incidents
SafeWork NSW has reviewed incidents that have occurred in NSW involving earthmoving plant and excavations. A staggering 74% of these incidents resulted in serious injury or death.
Three key types of incidents have been highlighted as the majority of incidents. These three areas will be targeted to improve safety and compliance in the construction industry.
Plant hitting services
The most common incidents are plant hitting services.
SafeWork NSW continues to receive notifications of incidents where mobile plant have come into contact with both overhead and underground services. One telecommunication asset owner reported 20,000 strikes per year, resulting in $20 million of damages annually.
Contributing factors associated with these incidents were failures in:
- identifying the hazards of overhead or underground services
- implementing a safe system of work, including utilisation of asset maps
- consulting asset maps with site supervisors and operators
- supervisors and/or operators understanding asset maps.
For more information read the safety alert, Mobile plant operating near overhead power lines safety
Plant hitting people
The second most common incident is earthmoving plant hitting people. The most common incidents in this area include:
- plant running over workers, including spotters
- plant slewing and hitting people.
The key contributing factor in this category is plant working in close proximity to workers.
For more information, read the safety alert, Working with or around mobile plant.
Plant rollover
Plant rollover is the third most common type of incident occurring. This can be further broken down to the following situations:
- working on a hill or side of a trench/excavation
- loaded and moving objects
- overloaded/overweight limitations
- unloading or loading onto float or truck
- ground conditions.
The key contributing factors in the data showed inadequate:
- exclusion zones from trench edges
- ground assessment and control measures
- knowledge and competency of operators.
Understand the risks of excavations and earthmoving plant
The risks of excavation work to workers are outlined in work health and safety regulations. A person can:
- fall into an excavation
- be trapped by the collapse of an excavation
- be struck by a falling thing
- be exposed to an airborne contaminant.
The main risks of powered mobile plant include:
- plant overturning
- things falling on the operator of the plant
- the operator being ejected from the plant
- the plant colliding with any person or thing
- mechanical failure of pressurised elements of plant that may release fluids that pose a risk to health and safety.
SafeWork NSW regularly reports on serious and often fatal accidents involving excavation work and mobile plant. Read incident information releases.
Eliminating the risks
Eliminating the hazard is the most effective way to manage risks.
Where it is not practical to eliminate a hazard, risk must be minimised by using one or more of the following:
- engineering – change the design
- substitute the hazard – replace the hazard
- isolate the hazard – separate the hazard from people.
Minimise any remaining risk by using administrative controls, such as health and safety procedures and policies.
If risks remain, the possible impact on people must be controlled using personal protective equipment (PPE), such as safety glasses, hard hats and protective clothing.
Read more about the business obligations to manage hazards and risks.
Learn how to comply with your legal obligations
SafeWork NSW inspectors visiting construction sites involving excavations and earth moving plant take a zero-tolerance approach to workers lives being placed at risk from being hit by moving plant, trench collapse, asbestos/silica exposure or electrocution.
Inspectors can take the following steps when a worker's safety is at risk:
- issue a prohibition notice and/or improvement notices
- issue penalty notices
- investigate the unsafe practices and recommend prosecution.
Read more about improvement, prohibition and penalty notices.
On-the-spot fines can also be issued for non-compliance of the work health and safety regulations, of up to $3,600 for employers and $720 for individuals.
Use the earthmoving safety checklist to check your compliance (PDF, 669.46 KB)
High risk construction work requires safety planning
When undertaking excavation work, you must comply with the requirements relating to high risk construction work under work health and safety laws.
An excavation is considered high risk construction work when it:
- involves a risk of a person falling more than 2 metres (m)
- involves, or is likely to involve, the disturbance of asbestos
- is carried out in, or near:
- a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant
- a shaft, trench with an excavated depth greater than 1.5 m, or a tunnel
- pressurised gas distribution mains or piping
- energised electrical installations or services.
Read Clause 291 of the WHS Regulations to learn more about high risk construction work
You must prepare a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) for high risk construction work before that work commences under Clause 299 of the WHS Regulations. A SWMS is a safety planning document that must be site-specific and made available to workers, supervisors and any other persons at the workplace, so they can understand the hazards, risks and safety controls to keep workers and others safe.
Essential services checks
You must:
- obtain current essential services information where work is being carried out, and any adjacent area, before directing or allowing the work to commence. For underground asset information, visit the Before You Dig Australia website, or for overhead assets visit the Look Up and Live App.
- provide the information to any person carrying out the work
- ensure the information is readily available for inspection until the work is completed, unless a notifiable incident occurs then it must be kept for two years after completion of excavation.
Trenches
You must ensure that the work area is secured from unauthorised access.
Minimise the risk to any person arising from the collapse of the trench by ensuring that all sides of the trench are adequately supported by doing one or more of the following:
- shoring by shielding or other comparable means
- benching
- battering
- conducting ongoing monitoring of ground and weather conditions by:
- receiving written advice from a geotechnical engineer
- checking local weather conditions for the day.
Read Clause 306 of the WHS Regulations 2017
Plant and operators
You must:
- manage the risks associated with moving plant
- ensure the plant is adequately maintained
- ensure that an operator of the plant is competent and is provided the appropriate information, instruction, training and supervision to work safely
- put appropriate controls in place to separate workers from plant, including physical barriers, traffic management plans and exclusion zones
- fit alarms, sensors or warning devices to the plant
- prevent unauthorised alterations or interference with the plant
- take all reasonable steps to ensure that the plant is only used for the purpose for which it was designed, unless otherwise determined by a competent person
- ensure all the health and safety features and warning devices are used in accordance with the instructions and information provided.
Traffic management
Separating workers from mobile plant and vehicles is part of an employers duty to provide a safe workplace or construction site.
Read more about traffic management.
Plant that lifts or suspends loads
You must ensure:
- that the plant used is specifically designed to lift or suspend the load
- that no loads are suspended or travel over a person
- loads lifted are within safe working limits and with suitable attachments
- never lift a person with load shifting plant.
Resources
Access rebates and resources
Rebates
The NSW Government SafeWork small business rebate provides up to $1,000 for safety items related to excavation work for eligible businesses, such as traffic management items, lighting, alarms and other safety products. View the list of eligible items.
Legislation
Codes of practice
- Construction work (PDF, 1014.41 KB)
- Demolition work (PDF, 668.8 KB)
- Excavation work (PDF, 4128.95 KB)
- How to safely remove asbestos (PDF, 2770.66 KB)
- Manage and control asbestos in the workplace (PDF, 1650.55 KB)
- Managing electrical risks in the workplace (PDF, 1337.36 KB)
- Managing the risk of falls at workplaces (PDF, 2326.56 KB)
- Managing the risks of plant in the workplace (PDF, 1987.96 KB)
- Managing noise and preventing hearing loss at work (PDF, 1377.23 KB)
- Moving plant on construction sites (PDF, 594.88 KB)
- Work near overhead powerlines (PDF, 3569.89 KB)
Guides
- Pocket guide to construction safety (PDF, 1759.1 KB) – Order a printed copy
- Guide for operating cranes and mobile plant near overhead powerlines – Safe Work Australia
- Emergency response to a powerline incident – Essential Energy
Checklists and templates
- PCBU checklist for earthmoving plant and excavations (PDF, 669.46 KB)
- Keeping your site safe and secure when unattended (PDF, 1083.29 KB)
- Silica safety in construction (PDF, 571.4 KB)
- Safe work method statements (SWMS)
Incident information releases
- Apprentice injured on residential building site – 2m excavation collapse
- Worker pinned under front-end loader
- Operator suffered fatal electrocution when boom contacted overhead powerlines
- Farmhand crushed by front-end loader
- Operator thrown from a tracked dumper suffering neck fracture
- Surveyor struck by reversing bobcat during road construction
- Partial building collapse due to adjacent excavation
- Truck driver fatally crushed unloading excavator bucket from semi trailer
Safety alerts
Prosecutions
Videos
This animation profiles a serious incident that occurred when a building collapsed during excavation of an adjacent construction site. The animation highlights what went wrong and what you can do to stay safe when doing this type of work.
This animation profiles a tragic incident that occurred when a worker was fatally injured after being struck by a drill head during horizontal drilling.
Not searching Before You Dig is like digging blind. Locate underground pipes and cables first – search Before You Dig online, every time.
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