Slide Rail System Used to Provide Required Shoring for Excavation in Marshland

A contractor would be replacing a 40-ft pipe joint to keep an ethylene gas pipeline flowing safely. The excavation would traverse into a swampy area where the initial excavation would proceed into a water-filled, swampy soil and then progressing to hard, sandy clay once excavated past the water table’s depth.

The location of this project presented the primary challenge when the contractor was selecting a shoring system for the project. The contractor was installing the pipeline in what was essentially three feet of water and then an additional six feet of mud to the top of the existing pipe eliminating quite a few potential shoring options for the project.

The contractor reached out to National Trench Safety to discuss the options on this project. The contractor has done similar projects in the past with National Trench Safety using a site-specific engineered plan. After reviewing the project, engineers concluded the slide rail system would again meet the project needs and provide the safe and effective excavation the contractor needed. In this type of excavation, the slide rail system is installed using a floating excavator, which can create additional weight restrictions if the lifting requirements become too severe. The slide rail’s modular component installation helped ease the individual weights and work within the excavator’s lifting capacity. When doing this type of project the mud on the outside of the shoring creates a seal that allows the SBH Slide Rail System to seal the excavation from water when the engineered plan is followed. The contractor was very satisfied with the slide rail system’s performance on the project, as it provided a practical solution to the shoring challenge, as well as keeping the crew safe.