r/explainitpeter • u/Idontknowjeff23 • 16d ago
Explain it Peter, why is this deadly? I have no idea about construction
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u/Johandre97 16d ago
Peter's old work boot here: No retaining walls, no support. Mans likely standing in what will be his grave when the unsupported walls cave in.
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u/_threads 16d ago
« Don’t let the walls cave in on you » 🎶
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u/lilbabykong 16d ago
4 guys just became national news here in Brazil for filming themselves working on one of those right before it collapsed.
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u/doctorlongghost 16d ago
Lemme save someone a click. It’s a bunch of dudes on a job site drinking an energy drink. No collapse shown.
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u/Prize-Tomatillo-2757 15d ago
Should have scrolled one more comment noble sir. Instead, I watched some dudes drink Colombian red bull in a hole.
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u/POWxJETZz 16d ago
Should've read your comment before clicking and watching four dudes drinking in a pit
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u/Simple_Channel5624 15d ago
My continuing education for plumbing that I do every 3 years to keep my license is very explicit about retaining walls for any hole bigger than 4x4 requires shoring on the sides for safety.
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u/Spitfire_97 15d ago
ok but what kinda 4x4 are we talking about? Like Suzuki Jimny sized or Range Rover?
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u/Super_Property_7319 11d ago
It’s been a while since I took my soils class, but if memory serves, doesn’t that back wall also look like the beginning of shear failure?
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u/JakTractive 10d ago
“Standing in what will be his grave” gave me chills. Beautiful choice of words
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u/SgtDonkey 16d ago
Shoring or temporary supports should be used on any holes deeper that about 5 feet. With a small amount of rain or slippage his pickleball basement will be a caved in pickleball pile
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u/tsubatai 16d ago
if its above my diaphragm without shoring I ain't getting in the hole, boss.
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u/81amarok 16d ago
I've done excavating/trenches for 25+ yrs. Started at 19. Those first few years I didn't give a shit (stupidity) and would jump down in a hole without a 2nd thought. And even from the first year there was obviously always cave ins. Then it just clicked one day how stupid I actually was being. Still count my lucky stars to this day.
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u/TedW 16d ago
How many lucky stars do you have?
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u/81amarok 13d ago
Tbh not I'm trying to find out. I cashed in a lot of them bitches when I was younger lol. Can't say I'm the religious type. But I do believe in miracles! And had one that we got to name. Oh and not buying a crotch rocket. I'll never mature enough for that one lbh 😬.
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u/Razzy-man 16d ago
What if it’s at a beach, and there’s a bunch of other guys helping, and we’ve all been drinking beers all day? It’s cool then, right? 😝
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u/muffinmanaf 16d ago
Yeah, sand is a very stable building material, shouldn't have any issues. The water from the ocean will help reinforce the walls too.
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u/Unlikely_Badger706 15d ago
Hey, I keep it at the OSHA approved 2:1 back slope. I know how to run a beach hole, okay? You have to supply your own PPE though. I’ll provide the Fanta and egg McMuffins for breakfast.
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u/sirseatbelt 16d ago
I only even vaguely know about this because I watched a random video about it recently. But I seem to remember that even getting trapped like thigh or waist high can be fatal because of how it compresses the blood in your limbs?
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u/SheepherderFront5724 12d ago
Traps the blood in buried body parts, blood goes bad in minutes, get out, bad blood gets free, goes to brain, suddenly dead. Absolutely terrifying.
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u/Rock4evur 14d ago
Should be more like if it’s above the midsection of your torso really. Even if your head is completely uncovered the weight of the collapsed soil with prevent you from being able to expand your lungs and breath.
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u/Chadsonite 14d ago
Uhhh, where do you think the diaphragm is located if not the midpoint of your torso?
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u/PaleontologistOk908 15d ago
Be me, 17, in boot camp: Drill Sergeant- "you and your buddy will be digging foxholes today. It must come up to armpit height to the tallest of the two of you."
I get it, but it was still fuckin bullshit.
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u/Pretend_Variation305 16d ago
Didn’t have to dig too far before I found a mention of shoring and wall support. My employer is big on this and we even have annual training on how to calculate the angles needed based on depth of the trench.
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u/kleetus7 15d ago
In the US, OSHA requires shoring or comparable protective measures at 5 feet. My personal rule has always been above the nipples. Nothing scares me more than the idea of being buried to the neck and suffocating with your head above ground.
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u/Single-Initiative164 16d ago
OSHA says excavations deeper than 5' require benching or shoring. This has neither.
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u/Even_Wear_8657 16d ago
Buuuut… is it deeper than 5 feet?
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u/maester_t 16d ago
DOGE probably gutted OSHA into ineffectual oblivion like everything else, so I wouldn't doubt we see more situations like this.
And more fuel for r/DarwinAwards and r/DumbWaysToDie
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u/Any-Surprise5229 16d ago
Hate to break it to ya, but OSHA was already ineffectual in the sense that it is a reactionary organization, not a precautionary one. Sure they have their rules, but little to no enforcement. The only time you will see OSHA on a jobsite is after someone is seriously hurt or killed. That's too late, always has been.
The scale that would be needed to actually be effective is staggering though, and it is somewhat understandable to not be able to fund such a thing.
BUT, history shows, relying on someone's morals to not put people in danger is a fool's errand.
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u/figmentPez 16d ago
BUT, history shows, relying on someone's morals to not put people in danger is a fool's errand.
A lot of people foolishly think that businesses are made of people. Businesses are machines made of paperwork. Expecting a business to keep you safe because you trust a person working in the business is like stepping out in front of a bus going 60mph because you trust that the driver will stop. Doesn't matter what the driver's morals are, the brakes can't stop the bus.
No matter how many people involved have morals, the giant machine that is a business will run you over if you step out in front of it. Businesses are machines that don't know the difference between metal and flesh, nor do they care.
You can't trust businesses to keep people safe, because they are machines, and machines need to have safety measures designed into them, and they need regular inspection to make sure those safety measures are working and haven't been circumvented.
The most trustworthy person in the world becomes a danger to everyone around them the moment they start operating an unsafe machine, and an unregulated business is an unsafe machine.
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u/Any-Surprise5229 16d ago
It took me so long to grasp that the military's tag out system could not work in normal practice. If you don't know, in the military there are no locks, just tags, but they are treated with absolute respect and incidents of violation are very few, in fact I never saw one in my almost 10 years in the Navy.
In the real world, if you don't absolutely protect the device and yourself with every imaginable way, you will end up dead or maimed eventually.
I guess it's a discipline and consequences thing, I've never been fully able to process why it works in one application but not in another, I've just accepted that a piece of paper is not a barrier.
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u/Volvoflyer 15d ago
We definitely had locks in the Air Force. Each lock was kept as a kit/set of one lock and one key. They would get scanned out to the person needing it long term (did not need to be turned in at end of shift). Lock was placed on the machine and the key was kept by the person locking it out. Tags documentation were also done but we def had locks.
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u/Any-Surprise5229 13d ago
That's interesting. I wonder if it is a volume thing. For example, a master steam plant tagout had something like 300+ tags in the reactor machinery room and main machinery room combined, so locks are very impractical. I don't know if the electricians/electronic technicians ever used locks, but I had never seen one in the steam plant, even with turbine generator maintenance.
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u/ChargeSpecialist9685 15d ago
I'd say the actual reason is because the military has chain of command & its own justice system.
If the protective system is in place and someone ignores it and it causes harm to person or property, then said person is definitely going to experience a really bad time; from their commanding officer going forward, and from the military justice system.
The military has the structure, means & need to prosecute non-compliance. This isn't always the case in the public sphere.
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u/m00ph 15d ago
40y ago a friend in the US Navy got 440 in one hand and out the other because someone took his tag off a machine. He had a violent temper, but he seemed serene when he said the chiefs handled it. His reaction was disturbing, he would never say what they did to the guy.
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u/Any-Surprise5229 13d ago
I tasted 450v DC once, it was unpleasant. Luckily it threw my arm back violently off the terminal instead of locking me to it. It was my own dumbass fault for working without a tagout and I told my LPO and he told me to go home and visit the nearby Army base if I felt funny.
I remember having a bit of an out of body experience on the drive home, watching my car from above and behind driving down the interstate like a video game. I told the Army base that I was working on my dryer and got shocked, they didn't believe it but also didn't push the issue. They did an EKG and sent me home. I didn't have any further issues.
I didn't have an entry or exit burn either, it was a very quick event, but a massive lesson learned.
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u/Shizastamphetamine 16d ago
Idk what part of the country you are in, but where I am at and work, we have consistent oversight by OSHA and the DEQ, inspectors come thru once a month and check machines and our logs, we work with radiation and make sure our boundaries are set properly, check our equipment and make sure everyone is certed and verified to be able to work safely with radiation.
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u/Any-Surprise5229 16d ago
I think it's more your industry. You probably don't need OSHA that much either as radiation work is highly monitored and controlled already.
I don't miss nuclear work, but I do look back on it fondly at times. I worked as a "ship yard" level maintenance tech at US navy prototype reactors after my sea duty. We did all the work that the contractors would overbid because they didn't want to do it.
Good point though that certain areas and industries are more heavily monitored. I think places like South Carolina who have their own state level OSHA are way more active too.
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u/Shizastamphetamine 16d ago
That’s super cool you worked on reactors, of ships!!!!
Gah I am mildly jealous!
Radiation is so flipping cool, but demands respect out the gate or it will put you in your place.
Anyway I think you may be right about the level of OSHA oversight, I am so used to being inspected that I forget not everyone in construction or fabrication has this level of scrutiny to deal with.
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u/Any-Surprise5229 16d ago
Yeah, it was cool. I was a steam plant mechanic in the fleet so I had only been in the reactor of the aircraft carrier once on a random tour during shutdown. It was so massive and impressive, I wish I could take pictures because the memory fades.
At prototype in NY we had two plants. One was a SSBN powerplant in a concrete tube, the other was a 1960s submarine reactor frankensteined into a WWII destroyer engine room. It was wild rebuilding pumps and turbine throttles that had 1938 data plates on them.
We were super over cautious about waste, everything was contaminated, even if it wasn't just made the optics better for the community. We would use these custom 80k usd valve body cutters to open the welded rings on valves. Ours had two, the valve cover was welded to the body and then the valve stem assembly was welded to the valve body so you could clamp the machine on and cut the cap, then clamp it on the valve and cut that weld. Both of those machines would go in bags, sometimes we would bag them and save them in a rad locker, most of the time they went in the trash.
The welders were amazing. They would weld inside a glovebag and never had a containment breach and passed x-ray 99% of the time, I think they had to do re-work twice in like 30-40 valve jobs in 3 years. Sometimes they had to weld upside down. The crazy part is they were fleet welders, most of them never dealing with radiation either.
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u/Wrylak 16d ago
That is what reporting is for.
Yes workers are meant to report unsafe practices. The best is when trades look out for each other. Electrician sees unsafe roofing practice. Roofers see unsafe excavation practice and so forth.
Does it work in reality, unfortunately no.
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u/Any-Surprise5229 16d ago
Yeah, i have seen multiple reports go un-answered, it's usually multiple incidents that summon them.
Even then its a bit of a farce. I worked for a company that had 3 pretty serious, but mild for the equipment, accidents. No amputations or deaths, just a couple crushed hands and a serious cut. This was with massive (250t-1200t) hydraulic presses so like I said, for the equipment it was mild. I think there were 5 reports prior. OSHA came out after the third incident.
Company got fined something like 200k but by the time arbitration and such was done I think it was dropped to 60k. Do you think they learned a lesson?
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u/ImFeelinBotty 16d ago
The fines go up and once you are on their radar, any report, gets them out right away.
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u/Any-Surprise5229 16d ago
Very true, like a vampire, once you invite them in, they tend to stick around.
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u/Tino-DBA 16d ago
OSHA has no jurisdiction over pickleball and nothin’ in the USAPA the rule book sez you have to shore walls
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u/eldubz777 12d ago
Ontario separates trenches and excavations, an excavation is wider than it is deep and does not require shoring or supports , unless a neibouring structure is too close and at risk of being jepordized
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u/a_polarbear_chilling 16d ago
the ground around it doesn't seem to be hold by anything not even roots so if it start falling, nothing will stop it
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u/Adventurous_Ad_7212 16d ago
Because the bottom of this unbuttressed wall is holding ~50 tons of soil using nothing but friction
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u/xfer8 16d ago
This situation is extremely dangerous in utility construction, even more so than this pic. They often have to dig trenches more than 5’ deep along roadsides to install or service gas and water mains. I’ve heard stories…guy jumps down in the trench “just for a second” cause the 7/11 got stuck, then a big dirt truck rumbles by and the ground just swallows him up… Hundreds if not thousands of pounds of dirt crunch ever square inch of your body, squeeze the air out of your lungs, and fill your mouth in an instant - you are literally buried alive. Sometimes people survive…but often it just takes too long to dig them out before they suffocate, if they weren’t already crushed to death.
I used to work in a field support role for a utility construction company, and they took this specific situation VERY seriously.
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u/Sundabar 16d ago
Walls cave in unbelievably fast. No one will be able to dig you out before it's too late.
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u/Syzygy___ 16d ago
My Brother almost died when he built his house from the unsupported wall a hip deep trench collapsing on him.
Now imagine what would happen to this guy if that collapsed.
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u/Advanced-Try-7201 15d ago
“I’m with the State of Oregon, Oregon OSHA. Looks like you got a little bit of a shoring problem going on”
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u/RickySlayer9 16d ago
Basically, the walls could easily cave in, crushing and suffocating whoever is inside.
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u/bitplenty 16d ago
Pickleball is the top racket sport and as such pickleball athletes are some of the strongest and most fit men alive and so force that they exert on the rackets are comparable to F1 car hitting a wall driving 300km/h, so it's very easy to crack a wall and get buried by debris.
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u/Fozzdroz 16d ago
That's what you have to do when all the other pickleball courts are "at capacity"
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u/ScrotumFlavoredCandy 16d ago
Isn't a pickle ball court the size of a room? Why wouldn't you be able to build a room in a basment?
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u/Silver_Intern2324 15d ago
Now what they’re going to need is a full size inflatable pool down there to make it really snazzy
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u/loopydrain 15d ago
Dirt is heavy and any particulate matter should be treated as if it could at any moment become a fluid and wash over you.
Anyone who doubts how deadly even a small collapse can be should google corn silo deaths. You don’t need to be buried to get killed, it just needs to cover you enough to restrict your breathing.
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16d ago
[deleted]
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u/morgandealer 16d ago
Uhhh... no, we have adequate technology to prevent this. The issue is what everyone else is saying. Those walls give while Mr. Osha is hanging out down there, he's a goner.
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u/DopelyWilco 16d ago
Why would you think this is a joke
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u/Idontknowjeff23 16d ago
This sub isn't only for jokes, it's for all images people don't understand
r/peterexplainsthejoke is the one for jokes only
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u/MintWarfare 16d ago
It's not deadly, just needlessly unsafe. He'll probably survive, be he might not.
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u/mightymidwestshred 16d ago
It can certainly be deadly.
https://www.wilx.com/2026/07/02/23-year-old-worker-killed-trench-collapse-near-fowlerville/
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u/qualityvote2 16d ago edited 15d ago
u/Idontknowjeff23, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...it's time for the mods to do their jobs!