Two Steps to Take Prior to Fitting Trench Shoring Equipment

There a few steps that construction workers should take before they use a crane to fit trench shoring equipment into the excavation on their site. Continue reading to find out exactly what these steps are and why they need to be taken.

Ensure that the box struts are the correct width before attaching the trench box to the crane

One of the most commonly used versions of this equipment is a trench box. The installation of this box usually involves attaching it to a crane and then positioning this heavy construction equipment close to the excavated area, before lowering the box into the hole. The most important step that site labourers should take before doing this is to measure the width of the excavation and then adjust the struts on the trench box to ensure that they are the same width as the excavation. This is because these struts are designed to keep the trench box's sidewalls pressed up against the excavated hole's walls. This, in turn, ensures that these sidewalls keep the soil behind them in place. However, if the struts are too short, they won't apply enough pressure to the sidewalls to enable them to stabilise the soil.

As such, if the trench box's struts are not measured and adjusted before the box is lowered into the excavation by the crane, the trench box might end up being too narrow to fully support the excavation's walls. If this error is not immediately apparent and, therefore, does not end up being rectified, it could result in the partial collapse of this excavated hole. This could cause delays, as the construction team would have to excavate the area where this collapse occurred before they could continue with the rest of the building work.

Check the interior of the trench for rodents or other pests before lowering the box into it

Before the crane operator begins the process of dropping the trench box into the excavation, their co-workers should check the interior of this hole for rodents or other pests (like possums, for example). If they find any, they should set traps to capture these pests and then remove them from this area. This is because if there are, for instance, several rats in the excavation and the trench box is lowered down on top of them by the crane operator, the weight of the box's sidewalls could crush these pests.

The presence of these dead pests inside the excavation could make it not only highly malodorous and difficult for the labourers to work in but also very unsanitary, as there could be pathogens multiplying on the remains of the pests that could give rise to illnesses amongst the construction crew. Given this, whilst it might be an unpleasant task, it is very important for those partaking in the installation to make sure that the excavation is free from any type of pest before the crane operator proceeds to drop the box into this opening.