NYC Department of Buildings issues excavation safety advisory

New York — Emphasizing that failure to follow construction codes and project-specific requirements can put both people and property at risk, the New York City Department of Buildings is reminding contractors about 17 procedures they need to follow during excavation and trench work.

According to the Department of Labor, 39 people died while performing excavation and trench work in 2022 – more than doubling the 2021 total.

Among the procedures listed in DOB’s recent safety advisory:

• Provide proper notifications to DOB, including 811 Call Before You Dig confirmations at all street frontages. Adjoining property and agency notifications may also be required.
• Protect all open edges of an excavation deeper than 6 feet with a guardrail system.
• Notify DOB of any construction-related incident.
• Follow approved and permitted Support of Excavation documents and don’t deviate from them.
• Provide accurate locations and protection of all service lines and utilities. Also, before using mechanical equipment, dig by hand – where needed – to avoid disturbing utilities.
• Perform project-specific monitoring based on the plan developed by the registered design professional. Note that monitoring can change during separate phases of work.
• Follow the sequence of excavation operations for the installation and removal of the SOE system.
• Perform a pre-construction survey before the work begins.

Minimum requirements are published in Chapter 33 of the NYC Building Code.