Excavation includes earthwork, trenching, wall shafts, tunnelling and underground. Every developed region across the world will have legislation regarding the construction of, and working around, excavations.

Some of the different processes used in excavation include:

• Trenching – where a narrow surface is produced that is deeper than it is wide
• Digging – a process that involves the breaking or cutting of the surface to then remove and relocate unwanted material
• Dredging – the operation of excavating material from a water environment
• Blasting – the process of reducing a solid body, such as rock, to fragments by use of explosives

See our guidance below regarding legislation, hazards and controls.