The activity of Excavation work carried out by contractors. Generally, the work of excavating contractor involves pitting the grounds and removal of soil, rock, and debris from a workplace or construction site. For this purpose, excavation contractors at the site deploy types of machinery like excavators, dozers, front-end loaders, and dumper trucks. Blasting or explosion also creates a tunnel, open face on the ground, hole, trench, or cavity as per requirement. Initially, for any fresh new project, the surveying of the land topography and the scrutiny of sites are done by excavating contractor. The removal of soil to the required depth is done by the contractor and he also employs men for the compaction test with equipment.
Different Types of Excavation
Different types of excavations are carried out by excavation contractors as indicated below:
• Bridge excavation
• Drainage/Structure type excavation
• Borrow type excavation
• Earth excavation. ...
• Dredging excavation
• Muck excavation
• Footing type excavation etc.
He also does grading, trenching and testing of soil-related tasks.
Excavation plan
Sample excavation carried out by BLR and Trenching Plan may be applicable to all open type excavations or for man-made cutting of soil, cavity formation, trench, or depression formation on an earth surface. This is formed by excavator machines by removal of earth.
Site Preparation
In a residential building construction project, the task of excavating contractor begins after the survey work is done by the crew to determine the boundaries of the housing project. The contractor removes the soil up to the depth required for the construction of the new foundation.
Excavation contractors are also business owners and are considered as a subcontractor since their job is seldom just a fraction of a larger project. Excavation contractors often found to work under the supervision of the prime contractor, who is assigned with the entire job comprising solicit of bids, coordination with subcontractor’s time schedule and pay the excavation contractor his fees when he completes his work.
Removal of Dirt
Excavation contractors are also assigned with the job of moving dirt. By deploying his equipment, the contractor owns, he is capable of building and grading roads, digging ponds and sewers, and can carry out the excavation of ditches for water pipelines or gas pipes. This is the reason why they create a terraced drainage system on pieces of agricultural land and also build dams that are made of burnt bricks and soil.
Heavy Equipment and Operators
A small excavation contractor often owns or leases a couple of big front-end loaders, bulldozers, backhoes, compactors, trenchers, and skid steers. It is a universal rule that the excavation contractor must be licensed and bonded. The contractors carry out the bookkeeping and payroll system and usually have to pay income taxes. The contractor must understand finance and insurance-related responsibilities and he must follow safety rules and regulations as required by the Occupational Safety Authority, OSHA.
Excavation hazards
Excavation is a highly hazardous job. The contractor must be alert about the following hazards and should take necessary safety measures:
• Falling off his personnel into trenches or excavations.
• tripping over equipment
• Excavated material falling on workers.
• Exposure to injury related to underground services or overhead electrical cables.
• Hazard due to unstable adjacent structures.
• mishandled or poorly handling of machinery
After finishing this activity only, other construction activities can be initiated. It is also a high-risk job and needs proper care for the safety of the workers and laborers. The excavation services of different areas varies as per the rigidity and the geographical variation of the soil and topography. Some places like mines and lakes require more excavation while building spaces require slightly lesser levels of excavation.