PLH GROUP NEWS
PLH Group Spreads Trench Safety Practices
Date: June 15, 2022
June is Trench Safety Month. During this month, National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) will be recognizing its sixth annual Trench Safety Standdown from June 20-24 and invites all companies that perform trench and excavation work to join them. Participating companies – like PLH Group and its energy-focused business units – will discuss the critical safety aspects of trenching and excavation with the common goal of eliminating injuries resulting from these services.
PLH Group’s leading power line and pipeline construction services enhance our nation’s safe and reliable energy growth and progression. Its trenching and excavation services expand the industry’s boundaries on a daily basis. For example, Snelson Companies recently modernized aging natural gas pipeline infrastructure in a major metropolitan area in Southern California. Earlier this year, Energy Services South successfully collaborated on one of the nation’s largest integrity assurance projects involving 195 miles of 16-inch pipeline that will span seven counties in Oklahoma and Texas.
These services require much more than just digging in the dirt. They require methodical planning and execution rooted in safety and environmental standards and practices, including identifying and mitigating all hazards.
NUCA’s Trench Safety Month and week-long standdown deliberately sets aside time to educate employees while fostering conversations among teams within companies who perform trenching and excavation services.
Organizations across the country will partake in a variety of activities this week, including safety trainings, seminars, and demonstrations regarding trench safety, standards, protective measures, and emergency response drills. These messages will reach thousands of employees from hundreds of companies during a single week.
PLH Group prioritizes the health and safety of its employees. Thanks to observations like Trench Safety Month, the industry joins together with the common goal of keeping workplace safety a priority on all energy construction job sites.
Follow OSHA’s five trench safety tips to keep employees safe:
- Ensure that there’s a safe way to enter and exit the trench
- Ensure trenches have cave-in protection
- Look for standing water, and test if atmospheric hazards are or may be present
- Keep materials away from the edge of the trench
- Never enter a trench unless it has been properly inspected by a competent person
