The Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015

Excavations

22.—(1) All practicable steps must be taken to prevent danger to any person, including, where necessary, the provision of supports or battering, to ensure that—

(a) no excavation or part of an excavation collapses;

(b) no material forming the walls or roof of, or adjacent to, any excavation is dislodged or falls; and

(c) no person is buried or trapped in an excavation by material which is dislodged or falls.

(2) Suitable and sufficient steps must be taken to prevent any person, work equipment, or any accumulation of material from falling into any excavation.

(3) Suitable and sufficient steps must be taken, where necessary, to prevent any part of an excavation or ground adjacent to it from being overloaded by work equipment or material.

(4) Construction work must not be carried out in an excavation where any supports or battering have been provided in accordance with paragraph (1) unless—

(a) the excavation and any work equipment and materials which may affect its safety have been inspected by a competent person—

(i) at the start of the shift in which the work is to be carried out;

(ii) after any event likely to have affected the strength or stability of the excavation; and

(iii) after any material unintentionally falls or is dislodged; and

(b) the person who carried out the inspection is satisfied that construction work can be safely carried out there.

(5) Where the person carrying out an inspection informs the person on whose behalf the inspection is carried out of any matter about which they are not satisfied (under regulation 24(1)), construction work must not be carried out in the excavation until the matter has been satisfactorily remedied.