2025 Trench Safety Stand Down
June 16-20, 2025

What is a Safety Stand Down?
A Safety Stand Down presents the opportunity for employers to talk directly to employees and others about safety. These Stand Downs will focus on trench & excavation hazards and reinforce the importance of using trench protective systems and protecting workers from trenching hazards.

How to Conduct a Trench Safety Stand Down
Companies will conduct a Trench Safety Stand Down by taking a break to have a toolbox talk or another safety activity to draw attention to the specific hazards related to working in and around trenches/excavations. We ask that member companies provide to NUCA feedback about their Stand Down, such as when it was held, how many workers participated, how you shared information with employees. NUCA will collect the information, publicize the overall total number of participants, and publish the names of the companies that held a Trench Safety Stand Down. You can find all the appropriate documentation in the TSSD Forms section to the right.

Recognition of Participation 
For participants in the 2025 TSSD, NUCA will provide a Certificate of Participation which will be e-mailed to all participating companies, and helmet stickers will be physically mailed to the address provided on the form you will complete below. Please allow at least several weeks for our safety team to process your submission.

NUCA will publish the list of names of participating organizations on the NUCA website and in our printed publications after the conclusion of the event. Please feel free to send in any photos taken during your stand down to nuca@nuca.com. They may be published in our publications to encourage other companies to follow your company’s lead and emphasize trench safety all year long.

Trench Safety Stand Down Week Goals
TSSD was first held in 2016 by NUCA, with OSHA joining as a partner a year later. The goal of the event is to reach out to the many workers who work in and around trenches and excavations to provide them with information about current excavation requirements and safety procedures for working in trenches. By reaching as many workers as possible we can reduce the number of fatalities and serious injuries that occur each year in our industry, and make others, such as municipal and industry workers who are also exposed, aware of these serious hazards.

Who Can Participate?
Anyone who wants to prevent trenching and excavation hazards in the workplace can participate in the Stand Down. We encourage utility construction, residential, highway construction, plumbers, military, unions, associations, educational institutes, and safety equipment manufacturers to participate. Please see the links to the right for materials to use during your Stand Down week.

2025 Trench Safety Stand Down
The 2025 TSSD will be held June 16-20, 2025.  The event traditionally occurs in mid-June around the third week, along with June 2025 to be declared the sixth annual “Trench Safety Month”. TSSD formally ends around August 15th of each year, with final submission of attendee forms. 

 The 2025 Trench Safety Stand Down

Our industry’s Trench Safety Stand Down is strongly supported by U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). We are grateful for their official support.

NUCA’s Trench Safety Stand Down is also sponsored by the NUCA Safety Ambassadors Club.