Acknowledgement

I appreciatively acknowledge my parents for their fullest support towards my education, to Mr. D. L. Peiris for providing his knowledge with lecture and his guide note, to the ICBT management for providing their facilities and last to my friend for their support.

Introduction
This project is about a dam construction project where a reservoir wall is to be constructed close to a road. The road was along the side of the road about 10ft away. This road is used by people of the area, vehicles and also for project work. There was no other ways to reach that area and to build a new since the project is too costly. Initially risk assessment was carried out before excavation and recommendation for battering of walls with angle of 1:4 as the road should be used for project work. During the risk assessment it was realize that the number of persons involved in the job is about seven and the said angle of battering is enough for the risk involved. Road side barricaded with tiger tape to indicate for people. It was found that in dam construction project lot of cost involved in excavation and depending on the soil around the area, the management thought that cost saving through battering and benching of walls in excavation. Therefore, during the project there was a policy for battering or benching of walls in excavation to prevent collapse of sides and not to use sheet filling or similar method to prevent collapse of side walls as those involved with substantial cost for materials and work. Later it was found that after raining for couple of days, the rain water collected on the road and there were water seepage through the walls. Since I am the safety manager of this site, I have to carry out some possible measures to these following problems.

Task 5 P5.1 The following pictures show the process of the excavation. From this we can identify some of the hazards that are available at the site. Control measures Use protective method to reducing Likely High cave-ins or collapse of the battered wall and water seepage. Decrease the slop Sheeting shoring Use of sand bags Likely High Benching method or Provide sign board for moving vehicles to identify there is hazard on the road such as: land slide boards Go slow
3

Likelihood

Activities

Hazards

Severity

Working in The the excavated area wall

battered could of

Severe or fatal to more than one person. Severe or fatal to more than one person.

collapse due to

where seepage

the walls are water. battered Battered wall could collapse due vibration various equipments and machine the around excavated area. Moving vehicle on the road crash due collapsing the might down to of ground to of

Severe or fatal to more than one person.

Unlikely Medium

caused by the

Risk rating

weight and the vibration the vehicle. of

slipping road Yellow hazard tape Lighting facility for during night hours. Better cut down the tree likely High or provide support system for the tree.

The tree at the top edge of the battered could wall also

Severe or fatal to more than one person. Severe injury Likely High

collapse due to unstable soil. A worker can slip and fall when work at edge of the battered wall. P5.2

Provide proper PPE such as helmets, belts, and boots.

Methods to protect and preventing collapse of wall and water seepage: Decrease the slop Piling sheets Use of sand bags Benching and sloped benching method The method you should use depends on factors such as soil type and water content, excavation depth and width, the nature of the work, and nearby activities that could increase the risk of a cave-in. The competent person has the responsibility for considering these factors and for determining the appropriate protective system. A registered professional engineer must design protective systems for all excavations that are more than 20 feet deep.

Decreasing the slop Decreasing the slop provides extra protection and prevent from cave-ins or collapse of the wall. Possibility is of these hazard factor is very less. This system must be design in by an engineer determining the maximum decrease of slop. The only offense is that this method consumes space and therefore since there is a road moving along beside the excavation, space is considered due to only road for the public use. Sheeting and shoring Sheeting is a component of a shoring system that prevents soil from sliding into an excavation. Shoring is a structure that supports the sides of an excavation and prevents caveins. This method is expensive for the large excavation project. Use of Sand bags

Sand bags are also used for protection and prevent collapsing of the battered wall. This method is also cheapest because the excavated sand or soil can be used by stacking into the bag and placing at step or benching system.

Benching and slopped benching Benching and slopped benching provide protection by removing material from the face of an excavation at an angle to its floor; in general, the flatter the angle, the greater the protection. Benches are cuts in the slope that give it a stair-step appearance. There are two types of benches: simple and multiple. Rain, vibration, and pressure from heavy equipment can make soil unstable and increase the risk of a cave-in. Sloped or benched excavations that show signs of cracks, bulges, or clumps of soil that fall away from the faces are dangerous and must be inspected by a competent person. You must immediately get out of the excavation and stay away until the competent person determines it is safe to enter. A registered professional engineer must determine the angle of slopes in excavations that are deeper than 20 feet.

Best method is to use sand bags to prevent the collapse of the battered wall. Therefore the policy must include after battering the wall the use of sand bags for preventing further collapse of the wall when dealing out with an excavation. P5.3 Monitoring systems There are different methods used for monitoring the excavation process. It can be technology wise such as using cameras and other mechanical and electronic aware methods to check on the soil deformation of the walls and other hazardous factors. The other is the traditionally or the walk around inspection method where the site engineer or a safety manager including the selected team or committee goes around the site checking for deformation of the walls and other hazardous factors. Normally in the site traditional method of monitoring is done. Therefore this method can also be classified to many different methods such as monitoring hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, every six months or according to season changes or according to changes of the weather or according to development of the project and this depends according to the length of the project. Checking daily or weekly is better solution to minimize risk and work according to changes with a check list. The check list must involve the lists of activities and other factors that involving to the following site.
6

Check list Check how many workers working at the site Check changes of the weather condition and mention what type of weather condition. Check how far has the projected developed or completed Check for any deformation of the battered wall.

Place a after checking

Description

Check for any changes in sand bags placements which are placed as a battered wall support system. Do the workers wear personal protective equipments? Any accidents occurred at the site? Fatal Severe Moderate Low Check for number of other vehicle passing along the excavation. Check whether safety boards and safety road signs that are available for public. Soil and stability Some soils are more stable than others. The type of soil is one of the factors that determine the chance that an excavation will cave in. There are three basic soil types that you may encounter in Oregon: Type A very stable. Clay soil is an example. Type B less stable than type A soil. Crushed rock, silt, and soils that contain an equal mixture of sand and silt are examples. Type C less stable than type B soil. Gravel and sand are examples.

Soil has other qualities that affect its stability. These include granularity, saturation, cohesiveness, and unconned compressive strength. Granularity refers to the size of the soil grains; the larger the grains, the less stable the soil. Saturation means how much water soil will absorb. Cohesiveness means how well soil holds together; clay is a cohesive soil. Unconfined compressive strength is determined by a test that shows how much pressure it takes to collapse a soil sample. For example, type A soil must have an unconned compressive strength of at least 1.5 tons per square foot. Soil Testing A competent person must conduct visual and manual soil tests before anyone enters an excavation. Visual and manual tests are a critical part of determining the type of protective system that will be used. Visual tests Visual testing involves looking at the soil and the area around the excavation site for signs of instability. The competent person might do visual tests such as the following: Observe the soil as it is excavated. Soil that remains in large clumps when excavated may be cohesive. Soil that breaks up easily is granular. Examine the particle sizes of excavated soil to determine how they hold together. Look for cracks or fissures in the faces of the excavation. Look for layers of different soil types and the angle of the layers in the face of the excavation that may indicate instability. Look for water seeping from the sides of the excavation. Look for signs of previously disturbed soil from other construction or excavation work. Consider vibration from construction activity or highway traffic that may affect the stability of the excavation. Manual tests Manual testing involves evaluating a sample of soil from the excavation to determine qualities such as cohesiveness, granularity, and unconned compressive strength. Soil can be
8

tested either on site or off site but should be tested as soon as possible to preserve its natural moisture. Plasticity test. Shape a sample of moist soil into a ball and try to roll it into threads about 1/8-inch in diameter. Cohesive soil will roll into 1/8-inch threads without crumbling. Dry strength test. Hold a dry soil sample in your hand. If the soil is dry and crumbles on its own or with moderate pressure into individual grains or ne powder, its granular. If the soil breaks into clumps that are hard to break into smaller clumps, it may be clay combined with gravel, sand, or silt. Thumb penetration test. This test roughly estimates the unconned compressive strength of a sample. Press your thumb into the soil sample. If the sample resists hard pressure it may be type A soil. If its easy to penetrate, the sample may be type C. Pocket penetrometers offer more accurate estimates of unconned compressive strength. These instruments estimate the unconned compressive strength of saturated cohesive soils. When pushed into the sample, an indicator sleeve displays an estimate in tons per square foot or kilograms per square centimeter.

References

www.hse.gov.uk/ www.osha.gov/ From the note by Mr. Ashok Peiris