June 2025 is Trench Safety Month
The National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA) declares June 2025 as Trench Safety Month. And NUCA’s Trench Safety Stand Down (TSSD) Week is June 16-20.
For the past nine years in June, NUCA has held the innovative TSSD Week for the utility construction industry. This year’s event, sponsored by NUCA National Partners National Trench Safety, Sunstate Equipment Co./Trench Safety Rentals, and United Rentals. TSSD Week will occur at hundreds of jobsites across the nation, reaching tens of thousands of our member’s valuable employees.
TSSD Week is a series of organized events held by NUCA and industry professionals. These may be both member and non-member organizations. The purpose is to emphasize the message of safety around jobsite trenches and excavations.
The event week is strongly supported by OSHA and the Trenching and Excavation Safety Taskforce (TEST). TSSD Week is used by industry safety professionals. They hold safety training, educational seminars, live demonstrations of trench rescues and other activities to reinforce the message of trench safety.
The association is devoting the entire month of June to getting the message out to the public. They also reach non-NUCA industry companies about the importance of employee safety when working underground or in and around trenches.
To grow this strong message of safety, the national association will be leveraging the safety messages of TSSD. They will employ NUCA’s social media channels, internal publications and the construction trade press. This is to emphasize several key safety ideas well known through our TSSD materials.
NUCA is also partnering this month with the TEST to share information about staying safe in and around excavations. The partnership, announced in April, will promote awareness of trench safety and the many training programs offered to industry members. It aims to ensure employees stay safe while building our nation’s vital core infrastructure projects.
Selecting June as Trench Safety Month is a natural tie-in to the lessons and demonstrations being completed at thousands of NUCA member jobsites during TSSD Week. In 2023, more than 24,200 industry employees and first responders at over 2,143 jobsites took part in the stand down. These participants came from 507 organizations.
Our industry’s employees learned the importance of being safe around jobsite excavations and trenches. They learned from peers and experts alike. NUCA and the utility construction industry members seek every measure possible to reduce risks on our jobsites. We all know these are dangerous places to work if someone is unaware of their hazards.
Recent national statistics on trench injuries and deaths show an increase in fatalities. OSHA reported 39 trench collapse deaths in 2022. This number is up from 15 fatalities in 2021. These accidents can be avoided with thorough training in excavation safety procedures and techniques.
Participation in Trench Safety Month and TSSD has become more important in recent years. This is as our industry begins gearing up for more projects. These include water, wastewater, broadband, electric, and highway projects financed by the federal 2021 infrastructure law supported by NUCA.
Our industry is seeking tens of thousands of new employees to work on these projects. Every one of them will need safety training. Time and time again, evidence shows that the key to significantly reducing the risks associated with our industry is employee training. Reinforcement through safety events such as the TSSD Week is vital.
The social media hashtag is #TrenchSafetyMonth.
