‘Trench Right’ app promotes worker safety

Lansing, MI – A recently developed mobile app aims to protect workers who take part in excavation and trenching activities.

Sponsored by the Michigan Infrastructure and Transportation Association, the Trench Right app performs calculations to help workers determine whether potential excavations are safe enough to be completed. Users input the dimensions, soil type and tons-per-square-foot reading from their penetrometer, and the app uses the information to determine whether the worksite is safe.

The free app is available from the Google Play Store and the Apple Store.

According to OSHA, dozens of workers are killed every year and hundreds more are injured in trench collapses. Cave-ins represent the greatest fatality risk for trench workers; other hazards include falls, falling loads and mobile equipment.