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Installation and Repair: Digging
and Trenching
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Electrical employees may need to dig trenches and holes
for underground electrical lines and fixtures. These
digging tasks are very physically demanding and may have adverse effects on
employees, especially when done for extended periods of time.
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| Manual Digging and Trenching |
Potential Hazards:
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Figure 1
Awkward position while digging.
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Figure 2
Twisting the back while digging.
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Figure 3
Using a
trencher.
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Figure 4
One foot pivots while the
whole body turns.
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Figure 5
Alternating hand placement
on shovel between the left
and right to shift stress
placed on the body.
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Figure 6
Digging PPE.
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- Lifting too much dirt at one time may cause muscle strain.
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Digging for extended periods of time may lead to
overexertion, causing fatigue and muscle pain.
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Bending
and twisting while
manually digging (Figures
1 and 2) may cause low back pain and
overexertion of the low back.
Possible Solutions:
- Use a mechanical means of digging, such as a trencher (Figure
3) or backhoe.
- Turn the whole body by moving the feet instead of twisting the torso (Figure
4).
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Use long-handled tools to minimize torso bending.
- Use the "right" shovel
for the job.
- Use round-bladed shovels for sand
and dry earth.
- Use square-bladed shovels for
coarse-grained materials such as gravel or rocky
soil from piles.
- Use shovels with a rolled step
for digging in hard earth, so that the
pressure applied to the bottom of feet is spread
over a wider area.
- Use smaller shovel heads
(trenching shovel) to minimize the
weight of material lifted.
- Break digging tasks into segments no longer
than 15 minutes mixed with non-digging tasks, depending on environmental
conditions and required digging effort.
- Alternate shoveling between left and right sides of the body (Figure
5).
- Reduce the throwing distance by placing
wheelbarrows close to the digging area. Optimal
throw distance is approximately 3 feet and
should not exceed
4 feet.
- Use proper personal protective equipment (PPE), including
protective gloves
and safety shoes with steel shanks (Figure 6).
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