Keeping Everyone Safe on the City of Benson Underground Project

Keeping Everyone Safe on the City of Benson Underground Project

June, 2022

The city of Benson, MN, recently hired Duininck to replace underground water main valves to improve their water system efficiency. Underground projects of this type come with risks so the Duininck Safety Team works closely with the Underground Crew to keep safety top of mind.

“There are a lot of different risks on a job like this. Money, downtime, digging around natural gas lines or power lines. The ultimate goal is to keep everyone safe.” says Travis Christensen, Underground Crew Lead with 8 years of experience at Duininck. For Christensen, safety is a non-stop job. “Soil and trench conditions are constantly changing. I monitor them every day and throughout the day to make sure we comply with OSHA and document the soil we are digging in.” The trench for this project was 8-12 ft. deep and soil conditions varied at each dig location.

The Safety Team visits jobsites to ensure crews are equipped with proper safety tools and knowledge to get the job done as well as conduct safety audits. It’s more than wearing a hard hat and safety boots, it’s building a culture around why safety is important. Mike Downey, Fleet Safety Technician says, “Everyone is a part of the safety culture. If you see something, don’t be afraid to say something because it could save someone’s life, or your own.”

With boots on the ground, the team finds solutions to problems and hazards on the job site by applying their safety knowledge and training. “Everything can be a safety hazard on a site like this. It’s how we protect ourselves from these hazards that’s important.” adds Downey.

Safety Manager and 30-year safety veteran, Terry Keenan, Adds, “It’s good to see that we’ve explained safety practices well enough to where they know what to do and we come out here to see that they are doing it. We’re just the coaches. They’re the players.”