June is Trench Safety Month

From the National Utility Contractors Association:

June 2022 has been declared “Trench Safety Month” by the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA). This declaration of safety further highlights the association’s innovative educational and safety program, the “Trench Safety Stand Down” week, that will be held June 20-24, 2022.

Every June since 2016 NUCA has held the innovative Trench Safety Stand Down (TSSD) Week for the utility construction industry. This year’s event will occur at hundreds of jobsites across the nation, reaching tens of thousands of workers.

TSSD Week is a series of organized events held by NUCA and industry members to emphasize the message of safety around jobsite trenches and excavations. TSSD Week is used by industry safety professionals to hold safety training, educational seminars, live demonstrations of trench rescues and the other activities to reinforce the message of trench safety.

In an effort to grow this strong message of safety, the national association will be leveraging the safety messages of TSSD through NUCA’s social media channels, internal publications, and the construction trade press to emphasize several key safety ideas well known through our TSSD materials.

Selecting June as Trench Safety Month is a natural tie-in to the lessons and demonstrations being completed at thousands of NUCA member jobsites during TSSD Week. In 2019, more than 47,000 member employees and first responders at over 4,500 jobsites, from 324 organizations, took part in the stand down. Together, they learned the importance of being safe around their jobsite excavations and trenches from peers and experts alike.

NUCA and the utility construction industry members must seek out every measure possible to reduce risks on our jobsites, which we all know can be a dangerous place to work if someone is unaware of its hazards. According to OSHA, 17 industry employees lost their lives through trench accidents in 2018.

Evidence shows that the key to significantly reducing the risks associated with our industry is employee training and reinforcement through events such as the TSSD Week.

This annual June event is expected to evolve over the following years as the TSSD continues to grow.