Risk assessment - excavations on construction sites

Excavation activities can present risks to staff which, left unmanaged, could cause accidents and potentially put you on the wrong side of the law.

Managing the risks

To help you identify the hazards associated with excavation activities, e.g. safe excavation methods, prevention of crush injuries, etc., and the appropriate ways of controlling them, use our example Risk Assessment - Excavations on  Construction Sites. It covers the generic hazards associated with this type of activity and suggests control measures to reduce risks to an acceptable level.

You should ensure that your document only addresses “significant” hazards, i.e. any that could, and more importantly are likely to, cause an accident or injury.

Make your instructions clear

Don’t include activities in your document that simply don’t need to be there. Work to the principle that if there is any chance of your staff being unaware of the safe way of doing something, then you will need to make it clear in your document. Finally, always ensure that any control measures you identify and follow, only go “so far as is reasonably practicable”.   

Note. The list of potential hazards is not exhaustive. However, for your risk assessment to be considered suitable and sufficient in the eyes of the law it must accurately reflect the “significant” hazards found when completing excavations.