Supporting the walls of an excavation to prevent their movement and collapse is called _____.

Supporting the walls of an excavation to prevent their movement and collapse is called _____.

• A. Bracing
• B. Shields
• C. Shoring
• D. Wall anchors

Answer: (C)

When you dig an excavation, the surrounding soil pushes in on the walls and can cause a cave-in. The way to prevent that movement is by using a shoring system. Shoring provides direct support to the trench walls with a framework of vertical supports (uprights) and horizontal members (wales or braces) and often planks, transferring the load away from the wall to stable ground. This keeps the wall from bowing or collapsing as work continues and is selected based on soil type, depth, water, and load. Shields, by contrast, are protective devices placed inside the trench to shield workers from a collapse, but they don’t reinforce the walls themselves. Bracing can be part of a shoring setup but refers more to the individual cross members used to hold the wall, rather than the complete system. Wall anchors stabilize a wall by tying it to a distant, solid anchor, which isn’t the typical method for supporting an excavation wall.

When you dig an excavation, the surrounding soil pushes in on the walls and can cause a cave-in. The way to prevent that movement is by using a shoring system. Shoring provides direct support to the trench walls with a framework of vertical supports (uprights) and horizontal members (wales or braces) and often planks, transferring the load away from the wall to stable ground. This keeps the wall from bowing or collapsing as work continues and is selected based on soil type, depth, water, and load.

Shields, by contrast, are protective devices placed inside the trench to shield workers from a collapse, but they don’t reinforce the walls themselves. Bracing can be part of a shoring setup but refers more to the individual cross members used to hold the wall, rather than the complete system. Wall anchors stabilize a wall by tying it to a distant, solid anchor, which isn’t the typical method for supporting an excavation wall.