3 minute read
Grave safety
It’s time to think inside the box
You may have read the news recently that VolkerRail Ltd – a railway infrastructure contractor – has been fined £550,000 after a trench collapsed onto a worker, resulting in him being placed in a medically-induced coma and leaving him with life-changing injuries (Matt Lamy, IOSH Magazine, Monday 27th June 2022). The incident happened in 2014 and the investigations into the cause and liability have been extensive in the elapsed period to now, culminating in this significant fine.
Advertisement
Without detailing every part of what the investigation found (if you’re interested, we suggest looking up the report in IOSH), the overall conclusion is that although trench supports were brought to site, on the night of the incident they weren’t being used adequately and other measures such as water pumps were in no way sufficient to prevent a collapse resulting from groundwater conditions and lack of proper shoring. A man’s life has been permanently changed, for the sake of not moving trench supports from a store on site to the excavation.
The human impact of this is shocking enough when you consider that it was completely avoidable, but this case also shone a light on the actual liability of the employers in these circumstances. IOSH highlighted this:
“Of note, whilst in many areas of health and safety the law requires what is ‘reasonably practicable’, in the CDM (Construction, (Design and Management)) Regulations, the requirement for duty holders in relation to excavations is that ‘all practicable steps, shall be taken, where necessary to prevent danger to any person’.
This is a higher test than ‘reasonably practicable’ and reflects the level of risk associated with this type of work.’
Why do we bring this up here? Because the depth of the trench in this incident was 2 metres, the approximate depth of most graves, and the CDM Regulations apply in cemeteries.
Every year, people needlessly die or are seriously injured in excavations as a result of ground collapse, falling material or poorly fenced off sites. The HSE (https://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/safetytopics/excavations.htm) urges us to remember that “no ground can be relied upon to stand unsupported in all circumstances” and that “a cubic metre of soil can weigh in excess of 1.5 tonnes”.
Grave-digging teams often don’t have the level of health and safety equipment you’d expect to see on a construction site. Grave-digging is something we’ve been doing for thousands of years, and it’s evident from some of the things that we’ve probably all spotted, that it can be taken for granted that ‘it’ll be OK’ and the shoring stays tucked away in a shed somewhere or on the back of a truck instead of in the grave. It may be fine today, but will it be tomorrow?
Are you taking all practicable steps to ensure the worker’s safety, if the grave shoring isn’t on site or isn’t in the grave and it collapses? Do you even have enough shoring and support for the ground conditions? What if it changes that day and you need more, can you get it before work continues?
It is extremely frustrating when we see cemetery workers at risk from a completely avoidable accident, but for the use of what can be simple equipment. We cannot ignore responsibility for the safety of grave-digging staff. Responsibility for the safety of coffin bearers to and at the grave side. The safety of mourners attending the funeral.
It's not ‘just a grave’. Are you compliant and happy that you’ve taken all practicable steps to prevent injury or worse in your cemeteries and burial grounds? Do you have sufficient grave shoring and graveside safety stock readily available on site and has it been properly maintained?
We realise how under pressure most local authority teams are and that in the desire to get things done on time and within extremely pressured budgets, sometimes a step gets skipped. Don’t let it be safety though, it really isn’t worth it.
Let’s all be safe and shore.
