The 411 on Trench Shoring: Explaining What It Is

If you own a small construction company, you are probably familiar with the term trench shoring.  You probably even know the dangers associated with having your workers out in the trench all day.   However, you may be unsure what the term trench shoring actually means.  If you weed out the big words and overly intelligent mumbo jumbo that people throw in to confuse you and to sound smart, a trench can be simply defined as a long and narrow ditch. Here’s the 411 on trench shoring.

Trenches are usually deeper than they are wide.  If we were to go more in depth in the explanation of a trench, we could describe a trench as a depression or excavation in the ground.  Trenches are extremely narrow when you compare the inside width to the length.  Trenches can be made by men, or they can be made from some type of natural occurrence.  Typically, a naturally made trench came about due to erosion.  For those who do not know what the process of erosion is, it is when the movement of rivers or tectonic plates cause the ground to erode.  Trenches are common to the civil engineering field of construction, or may be necessary in order to maintain the infrastructure.  Trenches are created to build or fix the infrastructure or to fix utilities found underground.  Water and gas mains and telephone lines are all utilities.  Workers also create trenches in order to find infrastructures underground if they return to a job at a later point in time.   The military uses trenches for defensive purposes.

As with most things in life, there is more than one type of trench.  Geologically made trenches are caused by natural occurrences.  These natural occurrences can come in the form of erosion caused by water or glaciers.  Geological erosion can also occur because of the geological movement of tectonic plates.  The civil engineering world, especially in regards to the construction or maintenance of infrastructure, uses trenches as a main part of their job.  Trenches allow infrastructure or utilities to be easily placed underground because of how susceptible these things are to damage.  Trenches can also make the process of searching underground for pipes or other types of infrastructure at a later point in time easier.  This is especially true when you know these pipes or infrastructure is contained under the ground, but are unsure exactly where you left them.   Trenches are common the first phase in the creation of a foundation wall.

Large trenches may be dug and not filled in and then utilized as a resource for transportation.  Canals, depressed motorways, and open railway cuttings are all examples of how unfilled trenches can be later used for transportation.  Trenches are used by the military as a form of defense and are dug as a way to quickly take cover or allow for easier communication while dodging enemy fire.  Archaeologist also use trenches for the excavation of sites or in order to allow them to dig sideways into strata and provide a sideways view of deposits.  They dig sideways in the hope they will be able to place what is found in chronological order.  Trenches allow a small part of the larger site to be destroyed while at the same time allowing an Archaeologist to gain a piece of the bigger picture.  Trenches are typically combined with tradition forms of excavation methods in order to provide Archaeologists with the best results.

Trenches are used in many different ways and have numerous productive uses.  Trench shoring is used during the construction or maintenance of infrastructure.  Trench shoring itself refers to bracing the wall of a trench.  The trench wall is braced in order to prevent the trench from caving in on workers or anyone/anything else inside the trench.  A trench collapse can cause a lot of devastation.  It can trap or kill workers in the debris.  Even if no one is physically hurt by the cave in, the cave in will ruin the entire work sight.  Trench shoring is a critical process that protects workers and stabilizes the trench in order to prevent it from collapsing.

Workers need to know what they are doing when they try and stabilize a trench.  The cost of not understanding trench shoring, or skipping the process, can be high.  Trench shoring isn’t just a one size fits all, but contains numerous different ways to go about doing it.  No matter what method is chosen to secure the trench and prevent cave-ins, the process should be understood and the person responsible for stabilizing the trench should know what they are doing.  It is also important to have the right equipment in order to ensure the process is done correctly.  For more information, go to http://www.iconjds.com/hydraulic-shoring/