Question

What is a Cave-In hazard?

What are the causes of Cave-In hazard in excavation?

Answer 1

When soil mass breaks out of a surface (detaches) of an excavation or trench made or in simple terms when soil mass inside the cavegers displaced by some external or internal force force , it is called Cave - In hazard..

it is considered as most dangerous risks in excavation and it has costed many human lives.

It is caused by :

Vibrations : When excavation is done, the vibrations produced by the equipments may lead to the displacement of soil inside the cave.

Pressure : When pressure on a soil near the trench is more than the bearing capacity of a soil, there is a risk of cave-in hazard.

Loads : Again when loads are in excess than the strength of soil, sool mass detaches out of surface in cave leading to cave-in hazard.

It can be prevented by various measures like shoring, sloping etc etc