The race to build AI-powered data centers across North Carolina and South Carolina is generating historic demand for sitework, underground utility installation, and power infrastructure. That demand is outpacing the supply of experienced crews trained to work safely in and around open excavations. For Carolinas contractors scaling up to meet this moment, trenching and excavation safety is the discipline that separates firms positioned to grow from those exposed to catastrophic risk.
Artificial intelligence and cloud computing are reshaping the physical landscape of the Carolinas. North Carolina’s data center construction could generate approximately 4.7 million jobs across direct, indirect, and induced employment. Over 3,000 data center projects are planned nationwide, and the Carolinas are capturing a disproportionate share. Charlotte and Raleigh markets saw over 113 MW of data center space under construction in the first half of 2024, more than 15 times the previous peak. North Carolina offers tax exemptions for qualifying data center investments, and the North Carolina Competes Act supports data center investments over $75 million, drawing hyperscale projects from Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Google, and Amazon.
This expansion creates an enormous volume of underground work. Every data center campus requires miles of trenching for primary power feeds, redundant electrical systems, chilled water loops, fiber duct banks, and stormwater infrastructure. Duke Energy has contracted 7.6 GW of data center load, with nearly two-thirds already under construction. North Carolina’s data center demand could double power needs to 6 GW over the coming decade, driving new substations, transmission lines, and utility build-outs that all require deep excavation.
The construction industry workforce gap data compounds the risk. The industry needs to bring in 456,000 new workers next year to meet demand, and members under contract for data center work carry a much higher backlog than others. When tight labor markets push inexperienced workers into excavation roles without adequate training and mentorship, the consequences can be fatal. For ABC Carolinas members, trenching and excavation safety is not abstract compliance. It directly affects bid competitiveness, Experience Modification Rates, insurability, and the ability to staff multiple large projects simultaneously across the Triangle, Charlotte, and the Upstate.
OSHA’s 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P governs all excavation work on construction job sites. Here are the thresholds and requirements every Carolinas contractor must know:
Employers must use protective systems like sloping, shoring, or shielding in excavations. The right choice depends on soil classification, depth, and site constraints:
| Protection Method | Best For | Carolinas Soil Context |
|---|---|---|
| Sloping/Benching | Shallow utilities, ample right-of-way | Piedmont clay (Type B/C); requires wide footprint |
| Shoring | Deep cuts near structures, congested sites | Variable soils; hydraulic or modular systems |
| Shielding (Trench Boxes) | Frequent repositioning, heavy traffic areas | Coastal sandy soils (Type C); data center duct banks |
North Carolina operates under an OSHA-approved State Plan and has adopted the National Emphasis Program on Trenching and Excavation, which increases inspection scrutiny on high-risk sites.
Not all excavations carry the same risk. On data center campuses and energy infrastructure projects across the Carolinas, several factors elevate danger.
Common high-risk scenarios include deep utility corridors for primary power and redundant feeds, multiple parallel trenches for chilled water and communication duct banks, and tie-ins near energized utilities on congested sites. Utility locating must be done before any excavation to avoid underground hazards, but on fast-moving hyperscale projects, coordination gaps between trades can leave unmarked lines in the path of excavation.
Regional environmental conditions add complexity. Water accumulation can weaken soil stability and increase collapse risk. Heavy rainfall patterns across the Carolinas, from the Upstate through the Piedmont to the coastal plain, can rapidly erode trench walls or soften clay soils that appeared stable the day before. Sandy, loose soils near the coast demand different protective approaches than the shrink-swell clays common in the Piedmont. Contractors must inspect trenching conditions after any rain or change in conditions to ensure safety.
Night shifts, accelerated data center schedules, and overlapping mechanical, electrical, telecom, and civil scopes create additional caught-in and struck-by hazards around open trenches. When multiple crews work near the same excavation, the risk profile multiplies.
OSHA’s competent person requirement is non-negotiable on every Carolinas jobsite with open excavations. This is the individual who can identify existing and predictable hazards, has authority to correct them immediately, and can stop work when conditions deteriorate.
Core responsibilities include:
On large data center or infrastructure projects where multiple subcontractors share excavation areas, the competent person must coordinate with site superintendents, foremen, and safety professionals to maintain clear authority. ABC Carolinas members should create a formal process to designate, train, and document competent persons by crew and shift, including refresher training and mentorship for emerging leaders.
Daily inspection checklist items:
Cost, schedule, and soil conditions all influence whether a crew should use sloping, benching, shoring, or trench boxes. Choosing the cheapest option today often becomes the most expensive decision after a failure.
Sloping and benching make sense where there is ample right-of-way and shallow utilities, but on tight data center campuses with limited laydown space, proximity to building pads, and heavy equipment traffic, these methods are often impractical. Engineered shoring or trench boxes are more appropriate for deep cuts near structures, data center foundations, or existing utilities. Hyperscale projects increasingly favor modular shoring systems that can be reconfigured as utility corridors shift.
Common missteps to avoid:
For a fiber duct bank installation on a data center campus, shielding with trench boxes is typically the most efficient choice, allowing crews to advance along the corridor without re-excavating. For public infrastructure work such as water main extensions serving data center campuses, engineered shoring may be necessary where depth exceeds 20 feet and the trench runs parallel to existing roadways.
Amid the data center construction workforce gap, many Carolinas contractors are bringing in apprentices, career changers, and new-to-industry workers who may encounter trenches for the first time on a live jobsite. Over 800,000 apprentices are active annually in the U.S., and the construction sector is scaling those numbers to meet demand. Workforce development grants support new curricula in trade schools, and educational institutions must adapt to meet skilled labor demands in specialized scopes like excavation, underground utility, and power systems installation.
Structured programs and merit shop apprenticeships can embed safe habits before bad shortcuts form. Industry-aligned initiatives like America’s Workforce Academy, backed by Meta’s $115 million investment, demonstrate how employer-driven training paired with on-the-job mentorship can prepare new workers for tasks including basic trenching, spotting, and utility locating. The data supports the investment: 93 percent of apprentices retain employment after completing their programs, apprentices earn an average starting salary of $86,000, and apprentice graduates earn over $300,000 more in their lifetime compared to peers without credentials. Apprenticeships help reduce turnover and improve productivity, both of which matter on complex data center projects.
Employers in North and South Carolina should align internal training, NCCER curricula, and ABC Carolinas programs so that every new hire who touches a trench receives formal instruction plus field coaching on excavation fundamentals.
Trenching and excavation safety starts weeks or months before the first bucket of dirt is moved. On mission-critical projects like data centers, where facilities must meet uptime standards of 99.982 percent availability, planning failures cascade into safety failures.
Accurate subsurface utility mapping and coordination with 811 services, local utilities, and owners prevent line strikes, outages, and emergency excavations that increase risk. The North Carolina Building Code is based on the International Building Code, and contractors must comply with both public codes and private specifications. Advanced fire detection systems are required for data center construction, adding another layer of coordination when trenching near critical building systems.
Carolinas contractors should integrate excavation safety into project planning from the start:
A proactive plan for a large trench crossing an internal site road, for example, reduces both schedule risk and exposure to struck-by and caught-in hazards by sequencing the crossing during low-traffic shifts and pre-staging steel plates and barricades.
This section is a real-world checklist for superintendents and project executives who want to spot high-risk conditions during routine site walks.
| Mistake | Corrective Action |
|---|---|
| Workers entering unprotected trenches | Stop work immediately; install protective system before anyone re-enters |
| Missing ladders or steps in trenches 4+ feet deep | Place ladder access within 25 feet of every worker’s position |
| Spoil or materials stored at the trench edge | Move all materials at least 2 feet back; assign a spotter during backfill |
| Standing water or undermined pavement | Pump or divert water; have the competent person reassess soil classification |
| No barrier protection around open excavations | Install barricades, signage, and stop logs before the shift ends |
| Workers standing under suspended loads | Enforce exclusion zones; suspend lifting operations over occupied trenches |
Excavation safety training is essential for preventing accidents, and the barrier to entry is low. Excavation safety training costs around $20 per individual, and basic construction safety orientation is priced at $20. OSHA also offers 24-hour fall prevention training for construction workers. Training programs must comply with OSHA standards for safety, but the real value comes from daily reinforcement. Rapid crew expansion on data center or infrastructure jobs makes these mistakes more common if experienced hands assume everyone already knows the basics.
Protective systems and competent person training only work if supported by a culture where field employees feel empowered to stop work and raise concerns without fear of retaliation.
Merit shop philosophy emphasizes competition based on performance, promotes open shop labor agreements in construction, and supports ethical and profitable project delivery. It encourages skilled labor development through training and advocates for regulatory reforms to enhance competition. These principles align naturally with a strong safety culture: rewarding performance that includes safety outcomes, promoting from within based on demonstrated craft knowledge and risk awareness, and tying foreman development to both production and safety results.
Practical cultural tools for excavation work:
ABC Carolinas members should combine field-focused excavation training with higher-level safety management practices to build a system that sustains performance across projects and crews.
ABC Carolinas is positioned to help commercial contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers across the Carolinas build safer, more resilient excavation practices as data center and infrastructure work accelerates.
Available support includes OSHA-focused safety training covering excavation and trenching, NCCER-aligned apprenticeship programs, and workforce development initiatives that integrate safety from the first day of employment. Members can leverage recruitment strategies to bring younger workers into the skilled trades and then use structured training to ensure those workers understand trench hazards before stepping into the field. Networking events help connect construction professionals in North Carolina, and ABC Carolinas hosts various networking opportunities for its members. Networking events can lead to job opportunities in construction and can enhance collaboration among contractors and trade partners, creating the peer connections that strengthen safety across the industry.
Your next step: Contact ABC Carolinas to schedule trenching and excavation safety training for your crews, enroll new hires in apprenticeship programs, or join peer groups focused on mission-critical and data center construction readiness. The firms that invest in people and protect them will win this growth cycle.
These questions address practical concerns Carolinas contractors and field leaders often raise when preparing for large trenching and excavation scopes.
Hyperscale data center projects and mission-critical facilities frequently apply standards that exceed minimum OSHA requirements. Owners and general contractors often mandate owner-required protective systems regardless of depth, detailed method statements for every excavation phase, and strict access control around open excavations. Because data centers must maintain uptime standards of 99.982 percent availability even during adjacent construction phases, the tolerance for incidents near live infrastructure is essentially zero. Contractors bidding this work should expect pre-qualification requirements that include documented excavation safety programs, trained competent persons on every shift, and incident-free track records.
The controlling employer should establish clear site rules for shared excavations, designate a single competent person with authority over the trench, and coordinate schedules to prevent overcrowding. Every affected subcontractor should review and sign pre-task plans that specify protective system type, access and egress points, spoil placement, and atmospheric monitoring requirements. The future workforce on these projects includes specialized crews in electrical, mechanical, plumbing, welding, HVAC, and concrete disciplines, all of whom must understand their responsibilities around open excavations.
Annual formal refreshers are the minimum standard. Beyond that, contractors should provide guidance through toolbox talks before new excavation phases, when new protective systems are introduced, or after any trench-related incident or near miss. On projects where crews scale rapidly, such as data center campuses adding HVAC technicians, low-voltage installers, and steel erection crews in compressed timelines, refresher frequency should increase. Students and apprentices entering the industry through trade schools and pathways like America’s Workforce Academy should receive excavation-specific instruction before their first day in the field.
Maintain written competent person designations, daily inspection records with dates and conditions noted, protective system design information for trenches over 20 feet, training records for every worker entering excavations, and site-specific procedures for utility coordination and emergency response. Compliance with documentation requirements demonstrates that your company treats excavation safety as a system, not a one-time event.
Employers should ensure every new apprentice and field hire receives classroom instruction on excavation hazards, participates in supervised field observations before entering a trench, and is paired with an experienced mentor who models correct practices on active projects. Building this knowledge into onboarding gives companies the ability and confidence to deploy new workers on data center and infrastructure projects without compromising safety. With the right tools, equipment, education, and resources in place, contractors can expand their teams, maintain compliance, and contribute to building the communities and infrastructure that the Carolinas need.
