Trench Inspection Checklist

Trench inspection checklist that ends in a signed PDF. Fill the daily card the competent-person duty expects — soil class, protective system, egress, atmosphere, spoil setback, signature — and export it before the crew is in the hole.

When the GC's safety manager asks "where are your daily trench inspections?", hand over a signed PDF. TrenchCard is the excavation competent person's daily trench inspection form: record the soil type YOU classified, check the cut against the OSHA Subpart P values for that type, sweep the hazards, sign, export.

Rain overnight? Log the rainstorm and every open cut flips to DUE — 1926.651(k)(1) calls for re-inspection after every rain, and the re-inspection card clears the water and wall observations so you look again.

The export carries the same fields as the paper carbon book and the GC-issued daily excavation competent person checklist — soil classification, protective system, egress, atmosphere, spoil setback, signature — the same form turned in to the jobsite superintendent at the start of each work day, minus the carbon copy.

On the card:

- Log each cut once, reopen it every shift with yesterday's card pre-filled
- Record your soil classification (Type A / B / C / Stable Rock) with the visual and manual tests Appendix A requires
- See the Table B-1 maximum allowable slope and the required top width for the type you selected, with the section cited
- Stop items where Appendix A blocks the call: previously disturbed, fissured, or vibration-loaded soil can't be carded Type A; layered soil dipping into the cut stops at A or B
- Egress within 25 ft once you pass 4 ft. Spoil and equipment 2 ft back. Atmosphere test past 4 ft where a hazard could exist, with oxygen range checks
- 12 hazard flags with corrective actions, notes, and camera photos (location and camera metadata stripped before export)
- Sign the inspection card, or sign a hold-out record that lists the stop items
- Export a signed PDF or CSV per card, or the whole day in one file, straight from the share sheet — it works the same at the bottom of a no-signal bore pit as it does in the yard

Entry is your call:

TrenchCard never says a trench is "safe," "compliant," or "good to go." That judgment belongs to the competent person; the card documents it. It never classifies soil for you — no sensor, no photo wizard — you run the Appendix A tests and record the result. And past 20 ft it stops cold: sloping there must be designed by a registered professional engineer. No table output, no workaround.

Your records stay yours: no account, no signup, no ads, and no network permission. Inspections live on your phone until you share them.

Sources and limits:

Every threshold is computed from 29 CFR 1926.651, 1926.652, and Subpart P Appendices A and B (federal OSHA), cited on screen and on every export. TrenchCard is a field aid and an inspection record — not an engineered protective-system design, not a soil-strength meter, and not an approval. 1926.651(k) mandates the daily inspection itself; a written record is your company's or GC's practice, and this card is how you keep one. Verify against your project safety plan, manufacturer tabulated data, state-plan requirements, and the authority having jurisdiction. Not affiliated with or endorsed by OSHA.

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