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Civil Safety

Digging a service trench in an existing street

Excavations, services and ground support

Get the plans, find the pipes by hand, and hold the ground up.

20 min

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Before the bucket goes in

Get the Before You Dig plans. Dig by hand or use a vacuum to find the pipe or cable. Then mark on the ground where it is.

Ground support

A trench 1.5m deep or deeper needs support. That means shoring, benching or battering. There must also be a safe way in and out within 9m of every worker.

  • Spoil kept at least 600mm back from the edge
  • Atmosphere tested where there is any risk of gas
  • Never enter an unsupported trench to 'grab one thing'

Knowledge check

Two quick questions to show you have it.

  1. 1. At what depth do trenches normally require shoring or battering?

  2. 2. Plans show a gas main nearby. Before machine digging you must:

Worksheets for this lesson

Every version is generated from this lesson. Print, save as PDF or export to Word.

  • Student worksheet

    Standard tasks with writing space.

  • Trainer answer sheet

    Every task with model answers.

  • Differentiated worksheet

    Scaffolded with sentence starters and hints.

  • Picture supported

    Visual cues beside each task.

  • Revision worksheet

    Shorter recall set for a quick review.

  • Assessment worksheet

    Marked tasks with a score box.