Many people focus mostly on landscaping and plants (such as adding a fire pit, a beautiful waterfall feature with a few fish, a gazebo, etc.) after deciding to redecorate their garden.
These renovations might extend to the basement, installing electrical conduits, repairing drainage systems, replacing pipes or sewage, addressing any foundational problems in the house, and many other things.
Although it may not seem like a dangerous situation, people would be shocked at how frequently incidents like this lead to injuries. Homeowners should concentrate on understanding the risks and minimizing them by implementing all required safety precautions before beginning a home remodeling project.
In this article, you’ll be able to read more about how to minimize that risk and what to do if the accident happens anyway.
Let’s begin!
Key Takeaways
- Understanding the safety guidelines for home renovation
- Decoding how homeowners can secure a safe condition
- Uncovering the impact of locations
Safety Guidelines for Home Renovation
Like most people, homeowners who are remodeling their homes tend to think about the repercussions only after the damage has been done.
Before the contractor shows up and starts working, all the necessary safety guidelines for remodeling should be questioned and fixed if it is decided that the environment isn’t safe for the contractor and household members.
Depending on the type of work, trenches could be several feet deep, posing a risk of falling in and injuring yourself. Moreover, soil condition is also super important. If the soil is loose or, on the contrary, sticky and heavy, it can result in slipping or collapse that can trap the person and cause crushing injuries. Excavation near the home’s foundation will most likely cause structural damage if the soil is soft or decaying.
Furthermore, home renovations don’t include just interior work. If homeowners are digging close to the neighbouring houses or close to a sidewalk, it can affect anyone passing by the house.
That’s why it’s essential to put up signs and warnings to alert pedestrians and neighbours about potential hazards.
How Homeowners Can Secure Safe Conditions
Not all contractors are aware of the dangerous situations that might have a catastrophic outcome, so homeowners have to take the responsibility, taking into account it’s their property, and supervise the work to ensure contractors are following safety guidelines.
When we say that homeowners should be ‘supervising’ the work, we aren’t talking about them doing any formal inspections or acting as if they’re certified/licensed experts. Of course not. All homeowners should be there and ask the right questions. The whole idea is that the project is completed safely and responsibly. Ask general questions about safety protocols for exterior upgrading and show interest. Don’t be afraid to ask what your options are, or why the contractor is doing something the way they opted for.
Even when super cautious, incidents still might happen, and at times, we can’t really do anything about them.
Workers might fall no matter how responsible and experienced they are, equipment used for excavation could be old or inadequate, soil could collapse and trap or crush a worker, and cause serious injury, etc.
If the accident happens, knowing the risk in this situation and having access to trench and excavation resources can be beneficial for everyone.
Does Location Affect Excavations?
In short, yes, it does.
The reason mostly has to do with what type of home you have, whether it is a rural or urban setting, lot size, access, proximity to other structures. This will determine how much space there is to maneuver heavy machines. And the less space there is, the more dangerous it becomes.
OSHA specifically identifies restricted working space as a major risk factor because of things like cave-ins, struck-by incidents, equipment collisions, limited emergency egress, etc.
Apart from that, the soil might be different, which can also affect how the contractors proceed with the project.
If you take a busy city like Chicago or L.A., you’ll find that a lot of the houses were built a long time ago with various different underground installations (simply because the cities didn’t yet explode into megacities at that point). The streets are narrower, and adding to that is the unpredictable weather. Chicago isn’t called the Windy City for no reason.
Bad weather (e.g., strong winds, heavy rain, freeze-thaw cycles during winter, etc.) might affect the soil that’s being worked and what’s considered ‘safe working conditions’ when operating heavy machinery.
On the other hand, cities like Phoenix, which have recently gone into big development project areas, would still have wider streets. But the soil – even though there is less bad weather – can also be hard to work with because it’s either very hard (caliche) or very loose (sand)). Still, more space to work with makes projects easier to complete.
Given that, it’s no wonder that contractors use all the available trench and excavation accident resources in Chicago, in L.A., and similar big cities to help plan these projects better and help avoid accidents, which would lead to hefty fines, liability, and damages, or worse.
Homeowners in big cities should think about safety measures before remodeling, to think things through and keep safety at a maximum. If you aren’t sure about what will go on throughout the project, it’s best to contact a contractor and have them walk you through it.
Interesting Facts
Excavating too close to existing foundations can undermine their structural integrity, leading to cracks in walls, uneven floors, and potential collapse of the nearby structure. Many garden or boundary walls have shallow foundations that are easily undermined.
Conclusion
Home renovations (or repairs) – at least on the outside of the house – can often end up requiring excavations and trenches. And depending on the layout of the outside of the house, this can introduce a few safety issues, simply because there’s a lot that could go wrong when you introduce big/heavy machines into a project.
But when the correct safety measures are being applied and are taken seriously, the chance of something dangerous happening is greatly diminished. And that’s what this article was all about. If you do end up with any renovation that requires big machinery, make sure that nothing can go wrong. Nothing that would endanger someone’s life, at least. That’s the most important part.
Stay safe and happy renovating!
What are the 5 P’s of excavation?
Plan, Prepare, Pothole, Protect, Proceed.
What are the problems with excavation?
Excavation can lead to issues like poor drainage, soil erosion, underground utility strikes, and foundation instability.
What are the potential hazards when excavating?
falling loads, hazardous atmospheres, and hazards from mobile equipment.
