More Ways to Prevent New Jersey Trench Cave-in Fatalities

You go to work every day knowing that your excavation work is dangerous and you trust your construction employer to do what is necessary to keep you safe while you are working in a trench. However, it is not just your construction employer who has the ability to keep you safe. Both you and the owner of the property can take certain steps to ensure your safety.

How the Owner Can Help

An owner who knows that trenching or excavation is necessary for the project being commissioned on his or her land should insist on trench safety practices. For example, the property owner could put trench safety provisions in bid documents and contracts to make sure that the construction company understands its obligations.

What You Can Do to Help Prevent a New Jersey Trench Accident

As a worker, you may not control how a trench is made or maintained, but you can control your own actions. For example, it is important to inspect a trench before getting into it and to refuse to get into an unsafe trench.

How a New Jersey Construction Accident Lawyer Can Help After a Trench Collapse

While you, and the owner, may be able to take proactive steps to help prevent trench accidents, the responsibility for keeping trenches safe often resides with your New Jersey construction employer. If you have been hurt, or a loved one has been killed, in a New Jersey excavation accident, then it is important contact a New Jersey construction accident attorney today at 1-800-362-9329 for more information about your rights and potential recovery.

*Source: Workplace Solutions from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, Preventing Worker Deaths from Trench Cave-ins, June 2011.

Read More About Preventing New Jersey Trench Collapse Accidents in our Free Library Article: Are New Jersey Construction Trench Accidents Inevitable?