C.T. Purcell, Inc. of Montpelier, Virginia, looking good at a challenging excavation job. (Photo: Kathy Redfern)

There is more to this photo than meets the eye.  C.T. Purcell, Inc. is a local excavating and grading company that started up a few years ago and immediately established safety as part of their corporate philosophy. Mrs. Sagle Purcell, the company’s CEO and co-founder, originally contracted with us for services and she remains our corporate point of contact. As safety professionals, we rarely get a chance to come in at “the ground level” and help establish the safety culture, so it has been a delight to work with Mrs. Purcell as well as Mr. Tup Purcell and his crews.

So, this is obviously an urban trenching job.  It’s at the center of VCU’s medical school and hospitals, and near the trauma center.  Assume busy streets, pedestrians who jay-walk, no storage space and lots of underground utilities.  What’s not obvious is the fact that this is the historic heart of Richmond, Virginia – the White House of the Confederacy is around the corner and the State Capitol is two blocks away.  C.T. Purcell, Inc. really had to pay attention to what they were digging.

And, this photo is also a good example of when we should be protecting the trench edges.  OSHA tells us at §1926.501(b)(7) that we may need to do this “when excavations are not readily seen because of plant growth or other visual barrier.”  But, we also need to do this when employees or members of the public could easily get too close to the trench.  C.T. Purcell, Inc. makes great use of the cattle gates as perimeter protection.  The workers are all dressed professionally and in high visibility vests.  The site looks good – both from the perspectives of what you can and cannot see.