In any project where excavation is going to occur, you need to plan. To plan, you need a place to talk and look at topographic maps and decide where to begin. You also need to brief the excavation crew on where not to dig. Therefore, you need an excavation station. Here is how to construct and/or designate an excavation station for any sort of important digging.
Place the Station Far From the Digging Spot
You do not want anything important being crushed or run over by accident. This includes your station where you will meet daily to discuss progress and what the plan is for the day. It is best to place your station about one to two hundred yards away from the nearest edge of the site to be excavated. This allows crew members to check physical plans and still remain within working distance of the station while preventing any damage to the station.
Use an Easy, Makeshift Setup
A pop-up canopy for outdoors with a simple folding table and chairs works. If you have enough room and enough money in the budget, you could rent a work trailer, but for a small excavation project, that is really too much. An event tent is also effective, especially for preventing the physical plans and documents from blowing away on a windy day.
Get Utility Company Plans
Never dig where there is a buried power line, gas line, or water line. If you are excavating a mid-sized area, talk to all of the utility companies and get documents that show where their lines are buried. It may just change where and how you dig, and it is important that your excavation crew know where they can and cannot dig. These utility line plans should remain at the excavation station but be reviewed regularly to avoid accidents.
The Station Doubles as a Cooling Hut
If the crew is working under very hot conditions, it is possible to become dehydrated and to suffer sun burn or heat exposure. The excavation station doubles as a cooling hut where crew members can take a break, get hydrated, slather on sun screen, and cool down before going back out to work. If marathon runners are provided with such a station, then surely you can see the importance of a working crew needing their own station, too. It is worth the small bit of time and effort to construct and/or erect such a station for the needs of the crew and the project at hand.
To learn more about excavation, contact a company like B.C.K. Specialties, Inc.
