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Every municipality in the country has construction projects taking place throughout the calendar year. Fire departments are routinely tasked with responding to events at construction sites. Medical emergencies, fires, and entrapments are all incidents that firefighters are expected to respond to on a commercial or residential construction site. Construction trades are listed as number 4 Construction trades are listed as the number 4 most dangerous occupation on the Bureau of Labor Statistics. With that knowledge in mind, we should expect to be responding to construction sites and prepare accordingly.
Construction activities often include trenching and excavation work. Additionally, municipalities frequently upgrade underground infrastructure, including water mains and underground utilities throughout their jurisdiction. These types of construction activities present unique challenges for fire departments to mitigate. Many counties throughout the United States have dedicated technical rescue teams that are specially trained to perform rescues for these types of high-risk rescues. Although these specialized teams with uniquely trained personnel are invaluable, they may be slow to get mobilized and deploy to the site of a technical rescue. Often they are dispatched and traveling across a county, or even outside of their home county, to perform a technical rescue. Therefore, normal fire department members may be severely limited in their abilities to mitigate the rescue that needs to take place.
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First Responder Awareness Procedures
Trench rescue awareness aligns closely with hazardous materials awareness. That level of knowledge and training, though limited, still presents several tasks that first-arriving fire department companies and personnel can work through to support a trench rescue operation, in preparation for a technical rescue team’s arrival on scene with appropriate personnel. National Fire Protection Standard 1006, Standard for Technical Rescue Personnel Professional Qualifications, tells us that at the trench rescue awareness level personnel should be able to do the following:
- Size up a trench collapse incident and identify trench specific hazards.
- Make contact with collapse witnesses, gather information regarding the number of victims, and the “last known” location of the victim(s) within the trench.
- Facilitate a nonentry rescue or victim self-rescue.
- Begin the process of mobilizing specialized technical rescue personnel and resources.
Sizing Up the Trench Collapse
As with any incident that firefighters respond to, it all starts with size-up. At the awareness level, NFPA 1006 allows us to evaluate the trench collapse and formulate what has taken place and what is going on. This size-up process is no different than the process that firefighters use to size up a building that is on fire. The pivotal part of your trench size-up is finding someone who witnessed the collapse and can provide you with victim information, as well as identifying any hazards or potential hazards in the area of the trench. Sizing up the trench is similar to sizing up a structure fire. We can identify the size of the trench, the location of the collapse within a trench, and possibly the victim’s location, as well as any hazards associated with the trench collapse. Obviously, these three things are not an exhaustive list associated with a trench collapse rescue. As with our normal-style structure fires, the trench collapse incident is dynamic and can change in an instance.
The size of the trench is, simply, its length, width, and depth. No one is expected to show up and measure the trench using a tape measure. You are simply formulating an approximate trench size dimensions to provide back to your dispatch center, as well as incoming, higher-trained rescuers. The size of the trench you are working with is important as the rescue moves to the operations and technician level. It is helpful to know what panels, struts, and specialized equipment can be specifically dispatched based on the size of the trench that a rescue will be taking place in.
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The location of the collapse–not necessarily the type of collapse–will dictate where your trench rescue operations will be taking place. Recognizing where the collapse took place inside the trench is likely the best indicator of where your victim will be located. The pile of dirt laying on the floor of the trench is one of your best indicators to where your victim may be, as well as providing a better picture of what arriving responders can expect to see when they show up.
There are more hazards associated with a trench collapse than simply dirt falling on workers or rescuers inside the trench. Most trenching by construction workers is undertaken to access underground utilities. These utilities often carry large amounts of flammable materials such as gas, but may also present electrocution hazards to rescuers in the form of underground electrical lines that have been damaged during trenching activities. Hazards can present themselves in the form of flammable gases, electrical lines, or pooling or actively flowing water from underground water mains. In addition to utilities, make note of where the trench spoil pile is located, identifying any ground around the trench that is compromised (fissures and cracks). Marking these compromises is part of the hazard analysis we can perform when arriving as a first-due company at a trench emergency.
Recognizing and acknowledging these things during your trench size-up provides that all important “mental picture” for incoming resources, as well as provide the operations- and technician-level personnel with valuable information for mitigating the trench collapse incident.
The Witness
First and foremost, the first-arriving officer should be looking to make contact with someone who witnessed the collapse and can provide details of what happened. This onsite individual will be a wealth of knowledge with critical information about what the construction crew was doing in the trench, as well as how many victims are in the trench. As mentioned, knowing where your victim was last seen in the trench is the most important part of the process. We cannot effect a rescue in a timely manner if we are spending excessive time searching for our victim, especially if a coworker on scene can simply tell us where the victim is located in the trench.
Furthermore, construction work being done within a trench is routinely performed by more than one person. It’s likely that there may be more than one victim located in the trench. A site foreman or coworker who was outside the trench can help answer these questions. At times, there may not be an individual on scene who witnessed the collapse. If this is the case, the first-arriving officer will need to investigate the trench and surrounding areas for clues as to what happened. Communicating with a witness on scene is the most beneficial piece of the puzzle. This individual will guide our initial direction of resources as we facilitate the trench rescue.
Facilitating a Nonentry Rescue
Not every trench collapse incident is a massive pile up with a victim trapped under tons of dirt (on average, a cubic foot of soil weights around 100 pounds). Often, a victim may simply have become stuck in mud or is only partially buried in a collapse. Nonentry methods of rescue are an awareness-level skill that can effectively mitigate a collapse incident.
To make such a rescue, a victim must be stable and able to self-extricate from the trench they are stuck in. A victim who has suffered a medical emergency or is buried past the point of self-extrication is not able to be effectively removed using a nonentry rescue method. However, when we have a victim who is stable but partially trapped, we can very easily coach them through self-extrication from the trench.
One of the most effective ways to facilitate a nonentry rescue is to provide the trapped victim with a shovel and a means of egress via ladder. There are several smaller, commercially made shovels that are worth carrying. These shovels are less cumbersome than a large, standard shovel and are easier for the victims to dig with
If construction crews are following Occupational Safety and Health Administration guidelines, they should already have a ladder placed into the trench. However, that is not always the case when we arrive at a trench rescue incident. Every engine and ladder truck in the country has ground ladders. If a ladder is not already placed in the trench, get one from the apparatus and place it. It goes without saying that our ladder or the construction crews’ ladder should be well within reach of any trapped victims so they can immediately begin their ascent out of the trench upon freeing themselves.
At the awareness level, passing the trapped victim a shovel and placing a ladder in the trench is well within the bounds of a trench collapse awareness skill set and can very quickly mitigate the emergency.
Bringing More Resources to Scene
Knowing our limitations as responders working at the awareness level is what handcuffs the initial-responding personnel. We know that we can effect a rescue by making entry to a collapsed trench, however getting the right personnel on scene as quickly as possible is one of our strongest abilities as awareness-level responders. When we effectively perform our size-up of a collapsed trench and recognize what is actually taking place, we can accurately call for more specialized responders to mitigate the trench emergency.
When we are presented with a victim buried beyond the point of self-extrication, we know that an entry team must be assembled and proceed into the trench to provide extrication. In such cases, we need operations- or technician-level personnel on scene. Understanding that these resources are necessary and getting them en route to the scene increases our chances at successfully making a rescue in a trench emergency. At the awareness level, be cognizant of what has happened to cause this trench emergency, recognize what is needed in terms of resources, and be able to articulate these things to incoming units.
Additionally, do not overlook getting utility companies dispatched to the scene. We know that often trenches are dug simply to perform new installations or maintenance of underground utilities. Getting additional resources on scene includes getting utility companies dispatched to shut off or control these utilities.
Digging Everything Out
Knowing that trench collapse emergencies are a common thing across the nation and recognizing the need to be prepared as a first-arriving company is only the tip of the iceberg. Awareness-level operations following NFPA 1006 give responders a firm understanding in performing the initial actions needed to facilitate a successful rescue at a trench emergency. As awareness-level responders, you must gather information, identify hazards on scene, facilitate a self-rescue of the victim (if possible), and get higher-trained personnel on scene quickly.
On the surface, trench emergencies may seem innocuous and stable, however they are dynamic incidents that can develop quickly, becoming suddenly bigger and claiming more victims. Those victims may be construction personnel or even the rescuers themselves. As we evaluate our abilities as municipal fire departments, recognize that the levels of training associated with trench emergencies must be adhered to. As with everything else we do in the fire service, it is paramount to know your level of training and operate within that. Possessing a working knowledge of what we as the first-responding company with an awareness-level understanding have to offer can make all the difference between a rescue and a recovery operation.
REFERENCE
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. (n.d.). Charts related to the latest “census of fatal occupational injuries” news release | more chart packages. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. https://www.bls.gov/charts/census-of-fatal-occupational-injuries/civilian-occupations-with-high-fatal-work-injury-rates.htm
Quintin Pavel is a six-year veteran of the fire service and currently serves as a firefighter in the suburban metro Detroit area. He holds a Michigan residential builders license and has a degree in mechanical engineering from Central Michigan University.
