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Individual plan: New Run, Quick Run, Tools and calculators, Education & Reference, Stats and Jobs. Contractor plan: all of that, plus Confined Space permits, Reports (Records) and Management report.
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Makes all text and buttons in the app bigger on this phone, for this account. Takes effect right away. Reports, PDFs and calculations are not changed.
What crash reports send
If something in the app breaks, this phone sends a short error report so it can be fixed.
Sent: the kind of error (its message only when it is one of the browser’s standard error messages, which name parts of the app’s code, never your words), where in the app’s code it happened (also for errors the app catches and logs itself), the app’s version, the screen, your plan type (none, individual or contractor), the browser and system version, and the time.
Never sent: your name, email or account, job numbers, jobsites, readings, permits, reports, photos or anything you typed. Nothing records your screen.
Nothing is sent while a report screen is open or an anonymous report is being sent. With no signal, up to 10 reports wait on this phone; turning this off deletes them. The error service sees the phone’s internet address when a report arrives; the app asks it not to keep it. This setting is for this phone.
About Education & Reference
Explanations of the app’s terms, formulas and field steps. Kept in the app, so it works without signal.
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On the Log In screen, tap Forgot password? (it needs signal).
r10Notifications
Notifications
- Open this page in Safari (not inside another app).
- Tap Share (the square with an arrow pointing up): at the bottom of the screen on iPhone, at the top on iPad.
- Scroll down, tap Add to Home Screen, then Add.
- Open the app from its new Home Screen icon, log in, and come back to Settings › Notifications.
Your records: the Home Screen app keeps its own records, separate from Safari. Anything you saved in Safari is still there. Open the app in Safari to finish or send it.
Not for emergencies. Confined space emergencies don’t use notifications: they keep the alarm on the phone and the email.
What notifications say
Short and general, like “2 runs waiting” or “New management report”. They never include what a report says, who sent it, names, readings or other record details: open the app to see those. Notifications are set up for this phone and the account signed in on it. Logging out, or signing in as someone else, turns them off on this phone.
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Report an App Problem
Something in the app not working? Tell the app’s owner. This goes to the person who makes the app, not to your company.
Attached automatically: app version and the screen you were on, .
Never attached: your runs, permits, reports or other records, your photos, or your password.
Your account email is shown to the app owner so they can follow up.
Not for workplace or safety problems: use Management report for those, and for anything urgent, call.
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It’s saved on this phone first, for this account, and goes by itself the next time this account is signed in with signal. Nothing is sent from another account.
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Problems people reported from the app. Mark each one read or closed; nothing else can be changed here.
CALCULATORS
Calculators
Tools
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Questions about grade, stakes, rods, pipe or safety. Answers use this app’s Education pages.
Sent to Anthropic to be read; not stored by the app. Don’t use AI with confidential project info.
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Tools on Home, in this order.
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Shortcuts are links on Home. Removing one only removes the link: the tool, your runs and your reports stay.
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CALCULATORS
Grade & Elevation
CALCULATORS
Safety
CALCULATORS
Pipe & Flow
CALCULATORS
Structures
BEND OFFSET
Bend Offset
About this calculator
Two equal-and-opposite bends (same angle), joined by a straight piece — pipe exits parallel, just shifted. Different bend angles aren't supported yet.
What is center-to-end?
Center-to-end (C-E): fitting center to the internal stop shoulder (where pipe seats inside the bell). Leave blank for vertex-to-vertex instead.
STRUCTURE BEDDING
Structure Bedding Calculator
For the bedding volume: how many structures get this same pad.
FLUSH / FLOW RATE
Flush / Flow Rate
Formula and pitot pressure
Flow rate = 29.83 × C × d² × √P — d is the discharge opening's diameter, not the pipe's. C values below are standard NFPA/IFSTA coefficients — match to the opening shape. P is the pitot (velocity) pressure measured at the discharge stream — not a static or residual gauge reading elsewhere in the system, which would give a wrong (often much too high) flow.
MATERIAL VOLUME
Material Volume
How many the same size, e.g. 6 footings. The answer is for all of them.
BEDDING & SHADING
Bedding & Shading
Pick one or both. Shading covers the sides and top of the pipe.
CONFINED SPACE VENT.
Confined Space Ventilation
Details
OSHA sets no minimum CFM for a space size. It requires “ventilating the permit space as necessary to eliminate or control atmospheric hazards” (29 CFR 1926.1204(c)(4)). This only turns an air-change rate into airflow: CFM = volume × ACH ÷ 60. Take the ACH from the job’s ventilation plan.Where the ACH presets come from
There is no officially accepted (OSHA) air-changes-per-hour rate. The 20, 40 and 60 ACH presets come from manufacturer guidance (Allegro Industries), a university procedure (MIT) and NIOSH-funded research (Garrison & Erig, 1989, which recommends a 20 ACH minimum for confined-space ventilation design) — sources as listed by the app’s owner. Ventilation never replaces air testing: a gas monitor (sniffer) reading is still required before entry and during entry.
EDUCATION & REFERENCE
Education & Reference
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EDUCATION
Lesson
EDUCATION
Rod Units & Grade Math
Reads true elevation directly. No HI needed. Simplest rod, most direct number.
Reading = HI − elevation. Decimal feet. Reading gets SMALLER as elevation gets HIGHER.
Same math as Engineer's Rod, displayed in feet-inches-1/16".
HI = benchmark elevation + backsight reading.
HI = stake elevation + rod reading shot at that stake. Works from any stake with both values.
When the points with a rod reading (stakes, or inverts with a reading), and a typed or benchmark HI, imply different HIs, the app flags it. More than 0.02 ft apart is a serious warning (likely a busted setup or a misread). Over 0.001 up to 0.02 ft is a milder "worth a second look" flag. It shows live in Run Setup and carries to Review and the final report until fixed.
Points entered as a typed Invert Elevation, and stakes with no rod reading. A run where every stake has its own rod reading never needs HI.
Standalone tool (Calculators → Grade & Elevation) for the same HI math, outside of a run — shoot a known point, then convert any other reading to an elevation off that same HI.
In Run Setup, Invert Elevation mode has an optional "Rod reading at this invert" box (Engineer's/Architect's rod). Enter the reading instead of the elevation: the app works out Elevation = HI − reading, once the run's HI is set.
Cut: stake elevation − cut. Fill: stake elevation + fill. This is real elevation, for documentation — the surveyor's number, unrelated to your rod.
Cut: rod reading at stake + cut. Fill: rod reading at stake − fill. This is what you actually dial in — computed directly from your own shot, with no elevation math involved at all.
Elevation: INV − wall thickness. Engineer's/Architect's Rod reading: INV reading + wall thickness (reads HIGHER, not lower).
Elevation: INV + pipe ID + wall thickness. Engineer's/Architect's Rod reading: INV reading − (ID + wall thickness) (reads LOWER, not higher).
Reading = HI − elevation. Since HI is fixed, a HIGHER elevation always gives a SMALLER reading. TOP is physically highest, so it reads lowest. BOP is physically lowest, so it reads highest.
Reference elevation (invert or BOP) − distance down to the bottom of the manhole/structure.
Top of Bedding − bedding thickness.
BOP = Invert − wall thickness, if you only have the invert reference on hand.
EDUCATION
Reading Stationing & Cutsheets
How a cutsheet row is read, in the words this app uses, and what the app does with each number when you import one. Your surveyor’s sheet legend and the approved plans decide what the numbers mean on your job.
Distance along the line’s alignment, written hundreds + feet: 1+50 or 1+50.00 is 150.00 ft. 0+00 is the start of that alignment, and -0+12.50 is 12.5 ft before it. A station is a distance along the line, never an elevation.
Some sheets print 150.00 instead of 1+50.00. The app reads both. A plain whole number with no “+” and no decimal point is read as a design point number, not a station.
“STA 1+00” and “1 + 00.00” are read as station 1+00. The word STA is only a label.
The sheet uses the project’s stationing. The run form measures from this run’s Start, which is 0 ft. When you import, the first checked row becomes Start, and every other point is placed by how far its station is from Start’s: rows at 2+00, 2+50 and 3+00 become 0, 50 and 100 ft. The point’s label keeps the sheet’s description and stake number.
The import says whether the checked inverts run from highest to lowest or lowest to highest, and asks whether to flip the run. The app can’t know which way your crew is laying pipe today; you choose.
Stakes are set off to the side of the pipe’s line, so they survive the dig. “L 20.00” or “R 20.00” is 20 ft left or right of the line.
20 ft offset to the storm drain line (SS sanitary sewer, W or WL water). The number before the slash is an offset distance, never a pipe size.
Shows it in the review. It does not change any elevation or grade: the cut or fill is already measured from that stake.
The surveyed elevation of the stake’s reference point (top of stake, hub or the marked point).
The vertical distance from that reference DOWN to design grade (cut, C) or UP to it (fill, F). On pipe stakes the grade is usually the invert (flowline); your sheet’s legend says. A sign printed after the letter (C-6.09, F+0.03) doesn’t change it: C is always down and F is always up.
Cut: stake elevation − cut. Fill: stake elevation + fill. This is what the app imports, as Survey Stake mode (stake elevation and cut/fill).
The design elevation printed on the sheet. The app does not import it. It checks it: stake elevation − cut (or + fill) must match it within 0.01 ft.
A made-up row for practice (not from a real project), in the order the app reads it:
101 2+50.00 R 15.00 15/SS MH-2 IE IN 98.40 C4.60 103.00 1000.00 2000.00
| Column | This row | Read as |
|---|---|---|
| Stake # | 101 | Stake 101 |
| Station | 2+50.00 R 15.00 | 250.00 ft along the line, 15 ft right of it |
| Description | 15/SS MH-2 IE IN | 15 ft offset to the sewer; the invert where the pipe comes in to manhole 2 |
| Plan elevation | 98.40 | Checked, not imported |
| Cut/Fill | C4.60 | Cut 4.60 ft (down) |
| Stake elevation | 103.00 | Invert = 103.00 − 4.60 = 98.40 ft, which matches the plan elevation |
| Northing, Easting | 1000.00 2000.00 | Must be there to end the row; not imported |
Stake #, station, an optional description, then plan elevation, cut/fill, stake elevation, northing and easting. The numbers need a decimal point (2394.00, not 2394). Spaces or tabs between columns both work, and thousands commas are fine in the number columns.
Top of grate (TG), rim, finish grade (FG), top of curb (TC), benchmarks (BM), lath offsets (L/O) and similar site rows. They aren’t pipe points; you can still check one by hand.
A row missing any of those numbers, or written in feet-inches, is listed under “couldn’t be read”. It is never guessed. Two checked rows at the same station, and checked rows from two different pipes, are refused at import.
Wall thickness and pipe ID. Enter them on the run form after importing.
If stake elevation − cut (or + fill) doesn’t equal the plan elevation, one of the numbers is wrong: a typo, a re-set hub, or a different grade reference. The review marks the row (“plan … ≠ …”) and the import refuses it. Don’t pick one yourself: ask the surveyor or engineer before setting pipe.
EDUCATION
Pipe Cross-Section
Schematic, not to scale. TOP/BOP are the pipe's outside (crown/bottom); INV is the inside bottom — the number that matters for grade. Springline is the horizontal centerline.
Full outer width of the pipe, wall included.
Open interior width — what "pipe size" (e.g. 12") almost always refers to. ID = OD − 2 × wall thickness.
The gap between OD and ID. (OD − ID) ÷ 2.
Horizontal line through the pipe's center — its widest point, and the standard reference line for utility conflict/clearance calls.
π × OD — the full outer perimeter.
EDUCATION
Slope & Grade
(End invert elevation − Start invert elevation) ÷ Distance × 100. A positive result means the pipe rises from start to end; negative means it falls.
√(horizontal distance² + fall²) — Pythagorean theorem. Slightly longer than the horizontal run distance on any sloped pipe.
(Slope % ÷ 100) × interval distance. E.g. 2% slope over a 10 ft interval = 0.20 ft of fall (or rise) per interval — this is exactly how the app fills in the interval table between your points.
X = 100 ÷ percent.
arctan(percent ÷ 100).
(1 ÷ X) × 100.
Whole feet stay as-is. Take the remainder × 12 for inches; the remainder of that × 16, rounded to the nearest sixteenth, for the fraction. (e.g. 3.7 ft → 3 ft, 0.7×12 = 8.4 in → 3' 8-3/8".)
Feet + (inches ÷ 12) + (fraction ÷ 12).
Rod readings and elevations in this app are decimal feet — but a standard tape measures in 16ths of an inch. This conversion is what lets you actually mark a cut with the tape on your belt.
EDUCATION
Bends & Fittings
Offset ÷ sin(angle).
11.25° → 5.126 · 22.5° → 2.613 · 45° → 1.414
Travel − C-E (fitting 1) − C-E (fitting 2).
Distance from a fitting's theoretical center to the internal stop shoulder — where the pipe actually seats inside the bell.
Not built into this calculator — math not yet verified.
EDUCATION
Flow & Volume
P = pitot (velocity) pressure at the discharge, not static/residual pressure. Q = 29.83 × C × d² × √P
Smooth/rounded 0.90 · Square/sharp 0.80 · Projecting into barrel 0.70 · Stream straightener 0.95 (device-specific; verify with its manufacturer)
Length × Width × Depth
(Top width + Bottom width) ÷ 2 × Depth × Length
True circle: angle ÷ 360 × π × r² × Depth. Custom curve: the wedge between the two straight edges + 2/3 × chord × bulge (a parabola, not a true arc), × Depth.
0.5 × Base × Height × Depth
π × r² × length
(Encasement L × W × D) − sum of all pipe cylinder volumes inside it.
(1.49 ÷ n) × R^(2/3) × S^(1/2), where R = diameter ÷ 4 (hydraulic radius, full pipe) and S = slope as a decimal.
Velocity × cross-sectional area. This is the full-pipe estimate under the stated gravity-flow assumptions (a pipe running just below full can briefly carry slightly more) — real day-to-day flow is usually partial-depth.
EDUCATION
Trenching & Excavation
Vertical (90°)
¾:1 (53°) — 0.75 horizontal to 1 vertical.
½:1 (63°). "A short-term maximum allowable slope of 1/2H:1V (63º) is allowed in excavations in Type A soil that are 12 feet (3.67 m) or less in depth. Short-term maximum allowable slopes for excavations greater than 12 feet (3.67 m) in depth shall be 3/4H:1V (53º)" (Table B-1 note 2). "Short term exposure means a period of time less than or equal to 24 hours that an excavation is open" (App. B (b)).
Unsupported: "All excavations 8 feet or less in depth which have unsupported vertically sided lower portions shall have a maximum vertical side of 3½ feet" (slope above it ¾:1). "All excavations more than 8 feet but not more than 12 feet in depth with unsupported vertically sided lower portions shall have a maximum allowable slope of 1:1 and a maximum vertical side of 3½ feet." Not available deeper than 12 feet. Supported or shielded: "All excavations 20 feet or less in depth which have vertically sided lower portions that are supported or shielded shall have a maximum allowable slope of ¾:1. The support or shield system must extend at least 18 inches above the top of the vertical side" (App. B, Figure B-1.1). Type B and C never get an unsupported vertical side: "All excavations 20 feet or less in depth which have vertically sided lower portions shall be shielded or supported to a height at least 18 inches above the top of the vertical side" (Figures B-1.2 and B-1.3).
1:1 (45°)
1 ½:1 (34°) — 1.5 horizontal to 1 vertical. "Benching cannot be done in Type C soil" (OSHA fact sheet "Trenching and Excavation Safety", FS-3476, 2011); App. B Figure B-1.3 shows no benching for Type C.
Bottom width + 2 × (depth × slope ratio). Geometry for a slope that runs the full depth from the trench bottom — arithmetic, not an OSHA formula.
Gravel/rock ~25% · Sand ~30% · Silt/loam ~30% · Clay ~35% — rough rule of thumb (loose fill usually loses 25–35%); use your compaction spec or the engineer’s numbers.
Total compacted depth ÷ (loose lift thickness × (1 − shrink %)), rounded up. The lift thickness you enter is the LOOSE thickness before compaction — it always contributes less than its full thickness to the final compacted depth.
Rim elevation − Invert elevation.
(Total depth − cone height) ÷ barrel section height, rounded down. Any leftover is what remains in this simplified height budget: verify the required assembly against the approved detail.
What the stakes on the run read, in field notation: C is cut (dig down from the stake), F is fill (build up). "Average C 5.60 ft" is the average of the stakes’ cuts; "deepest C 6.10 ft" is the stake with the most cut, the one to plan shoring and sloping around. A run with both shows its fill stakes separately. Stats pool every stake of every run shown. The app used to show one "net" number (all cuts added up, minus all fills); that sum grows with the number of stakes and isn’t a depth, so it is no longer shown.
Trench width × depth from the stake elevations down to the pipe bottom (BOP), along the run, minus the pipe’s own volume below grade, in cubic yards. Needs every point staked, a trench width, wall thickness and pipe ID. A rough estimate: it assumes vertical trench walls, so a sloped or benched trench takes more.
EDUCATION
Pipe & Materials
π/4 × (OD² − ID²) × length × density. ID = OD − 2×wall thickness.
Ductile Iron ~450 · PVC (any schedule/SDR/C900) ~90 · Solid-Wall HDPE ~59 · Steel ~490 · Concrete ~150
Same material density regardless of schedule — schedule changes wall thickness, not density. Enter your actual wall thickness for an accurate weight.
This formula assumes a solid, uniform wall. Corrugated pipe's ribbed profile has far less material than that — use the manufacturer's published weight for anything that matters.
PVC/HDPE 0.010 · Concrete/Vitrified Clay/Lined Ductile Iron 0.013 · Corrugated Metal 0.024
~2 ft/s is the common minimum benchmark for a gravity sewer to avoid solids settling out.
EDUCATION
Confined Space
(Volume in ft³ × Air Changes per Hour) ÷ 60.
Use the job’s ventilation plan. There is no officially accepted (OSHA) air-changes-per-hour rate. The 20, 40 and 60 ACH presets in the ventilation calculator come from manufacturer guidance (Allegro Industries), a university procedure (MIT) and NIOSH-funded research (Garrison & Erig, 1989: "It is recommended that a minimum flow rate of 20 ACH be used for CS ventilation design", Applied Industrial Hygiene 4(10)) — sources as listed by the app’s owner. Ventilation never replaces air testing: a gas monitor (sniffer) reading is still required before entry and during entry. Whatever the target, OSHA requires you to "Test conditions in the permit space to determine if acceptable entry conditions exist before changes to the space's natural ventilation are made, and before entry is authorized to begin" (1926.1204(e)(1)) and to "Continuously monitor atmospheric hazards unless the employer can demonstrate that the equipment for continuously monitoring a hazard is not commercially available or that periodic monitoring is of sufficient frequency to ensure that the atmospheric hazard is being controlled at safe levels" (1926.1204(e)(2)).
The attendant "Remains outside the permit space during entry operations until relieved by another attendant" (1926.1209(d); the same words are in 1910.146(i)(4)). "Once an attendant has been relieved by another attendant, the relieved attendant may enter a permit space to attempt a rescue when the employer's permit space program allows attendant entry for rescue and the attendant has been trained and equipped for rescue operations as required by § 1926.1211(a)" (Note to 1926.1209(d)).
OSHA counts these as a hazardous atmosphere (1926.1202): "Atmospheric oxygen concentration below 19.5 percent or above 23.5 percent" and "Flammable gas, vapor, or mist in excess of 10 percent of its lower flammable limit (LFL)" (the LEL on your meter). Toxic gases: H2S 10 ppm is the OSHA construction PEL (8-hour time-weighted average, 1926.55 Table 1). CO 35 ppm is the NIOSH recommended limit (8-hour time-weighted average), stricter than the OSHA PEL of 50 ppm (1926.55 Table 1). This app's automatic evacuation alarm checks every reading against the permit's limits — any limit left blank uses the app's alarm defaults (O2 19.5%–23.5%, LEL 10%, H2S 10 ppm, CO 35 ppm). Enter your own site-specific limits when your program or the space calls for different ones, and keep using your meter's built-in alarm too.
EDUCATION
Concrete & Slurry
Common minimum for thrust blocks and other low-demand mass fill — poured against undisturbed soil, relying on bearing area more than raw strength.
Typical for manhole bases, collars, and channel fill on most municipal specs.
General structural work — footings, encasement, thrust blocks on newer/stricter specs, most everyday utility structural concrete.
Higher-demand applications — heavy structural loads, water/wastewater structures in aggressive or sulfate-heavy soils, high-traffic pavement. Often paired with a specific cement type (e.g. Type II for sulfate resistance) rather than PSI alone.
"4,000 psi concrete" means it's designed to reach 4,000 psi compressive strength 28 days after the pour — not on pour day. Early strength is much lower; respect cure time before loading it, backfilling over it, or trimming pipe inside a manhole.
Controlled Low-Strength Material (CLSM) — also called flowable fill, controlled density fill, soil-cement slurry, or unshrinkable fill. A thin, self-leveling mix of cement, water, and sand or fly ash — consistency closer to pancake batter or a milkshake than concrete.
Under 1,200 psi by definition (ACI 229) — most mixes actually target under 300 psi on purpose, so the material stays easy to re-excavate later if the utility needs to be exposed again.
Pipe bedding and trench backfill, especially narrow trenches or tight utility corridors where compaction equipment can't get in. Also used to fill abandoned pipe, void fill, and retaining wall backfill.
Self-compacting — no tamping or vibration needed. Displaces standing water in a wet trench. Can often be placed without anyone entering the trench at all, which is a real cave-in exposure reduction, not just a convenience.
Costs meaningfully more than granular backfill per yard, and if it's mixed too strong it becomes its own future excavation headache — the whole point is low strength, more cement is not automatically better here.
Flowable fill is a backfill material, not a structural one — it's not rated or intended to carry structural loads the way a footing, thrust block, or encasement pour is.
EDUCATION
Safety Facts
Falls, struck-by, electrocution, and caught-in/between were 60.6% of construction deaths in 2014 — 545 of 899 (OSHA, Commonly Used Statistics, 2014 data). The exact share moves from year to year. OSHA's Construction Focus Four training targets these four because they are the leading causes of construction deaths. Trench collapse and heavy-equipment hazards below fall under these four; confined-space air deaths are counted separately.
The single biggest killer in construction: falls, slips and trips killed 389 of the 1,034 construction workers who died in 2024 — 37.6% (BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, 2024). In OSHA's 2014 breakdown, falls (39.9%) were more than the other three combined (20.6%). Falls from roofs, ladders, scaffolds, and unprotected edges. OSHA: an employee on a surface with an unprotected side or edge "which is 6 feet (1.8 m) or more above a lower level shall be protected from falling by the use of guardrail systems, safety net systems, or personal fall arrest systems" (1926.501(b)(1)); and "Each employee at the edge of an excavation 6 feet (1.8 m) or more in depth shall be protected from falling by guardrail systems, fences, or barricades when the excavations are not readily seen because of plant growth or other visual barrier" (1926.501(b)(7)(i)) — 29 CFR 1926 Subpart M. Relevant on this job mainly around excavated edges, ladders in/out of trenches, and any work on structures or embankments.
Workers hit by a moving object — vehicles, swinging equipment, falling or flying material. OSHA's struck-by eTool: "Approximately 75% of struck-by fatalities involve heavy equipment such as trucks or cranes" (OSHA gives no year for this figure). See "Working Around Heavy Equipment" below for the details that matter on this job.
Contact with overhead power lines, underground electrical, exposed wiring, or damaged tools/cords. Silent and invisible until contact — there's no "it looked safe." Always call 811 and confirm utility locates before digging, and treat every unmarked or unverified line as live. Electrical standards: 29 CFR 1926 Subpart K.
Trench cave-ins, and being crushed between equipment and a fixed object (a wall, a truck, a trench wall). This is the category trench collapses fall under — see the numbers below, they're serious enough to earn their own section.
NIOSH's FACE program publishes detailed, real investigation reports on fatal incidents — what happened, what went wrong, and what would've prevented it. Names of victims and employers are left out of the record out of respect. For the citation/inspection side of real incidents, OSHA's own fatality inspection database is searchable and public.
OSHA's own figure: "one cubic yard of soil weighs up to 3,000 lbs" (DOL/OSHA news release, July 14, 2021) — about the weight of a small car. That's what comes down on a worker in a collapse — not "dirt," a car dropped on them in under a second.
Cave-ins happen without warning and without time to climb out, even for an alert, unrestrained worker standing right next to the ladder. Death is often from compressional asphyxia — the weight crushes the chest so it can't expand — as in the NIOSH-funded Washington FACE report 71-156-2017 ("Pipelayer Dies When Trench Wall Collapses"). The soil doesn't have to cover your head: the weight on the chest is what kills.
OSHA counted 39 trench and excavation deaths in 2022, up from 15 in all of 2021 (OSHA news releases, July 14, 2022 and Nov. 4, 2024). After OSHA's outreach and "zero tolerance" enforcement for unprotected trenches, its count fell to 15 in 2023 and 12 in 2024 as of Nov. 4, 2024 (preliminary — OSHA has not published a full-year 2024 count in that release). OSHA credits that push for the drop — a sign this is preventable, not just bad luck.
Not a shoring system that failed — no protective system in place to begin with. A review of 296 OSHA fatality investigations from 1997–2001 found no protective system in place in 94% of cave-ins (Arboleda & Abraham, 2004, cited in CPWR's 2006 report "Strategies to Prevent Trenching-Related Injuries and Deaths"). The standard is not complicated: "Each employee in an excavation shall be protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system" — sloping, benching, shoring, or a shield — except when "Excavations are made entirely in stable rock" or "Excavations are less than 5 feet (1.52m) in depth and examination of the ground by a competent person provides no indication of a potential cave-in" (1926.652(a)(1)).
CDC/NIOSH's review of 542 trench deaths from 1992–2001 found the workers had been with their employer 6.7 years on average; only about 16% had been there under a year (CDC MMWR 53(15), 2004). Familiarity breeds the "I've done this a hundred times without a box" mindset that gets people killed on the hundred-and-first.
Browse NIOSH FACE reports and filter/search for trenching or excavation incidents to read exactly how real collapses happened. OSHA's fatality database is also searchable by keyword for cited trenching cases.
"Competent person means one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings, or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them" (1926.650(b)). Appendix A also makes the competent person the one who classifies the soil: "Each soil and rock deposit shall be classified by a competent person as Stable Rock, Type A, Type B, or Type C" (App. A (c)(1)) — so they have to know the soil types and which protective systems each one allows.
"Daily inspections of excavations, the adjacent areas, and protective systems shall be made by a competent person." "An inspection shall be conducted by the competent person prior to the start of work and as needed throughout the shift. Inspections shall also be made after every rainstorm or other hazard increasing occurrence" (1926.651(k)(1)) — a nearby vibration source showing up, any sign of shifting or fissuring soil.
Classifying the soil as Stable Rock, Type A, B, or C isn't a guess or a formality — it's a required judgment call that directly determines which protective system is legal to use. OSHA: "The classification of the deposits shall be made based on the results of at least one visual and at least one manual analysis" (App. A (c)(2); see below), not assumption.
Choosing a protective system the standard allows for that soil and depth (sloping, benching, shoring, or shielding — "Sloping or benching for excavations greater than 20 feet deep shall be designed by a registered professional engineer", App. B Table B-1 note 3; designs outside the options need a registered professional engineer, 1926.652(b)(4), (c)(4)), verifying safe access/egress, monitoring water-removal equipment — "the water removal equipment and operations shall be monitored by a competent person" (1926.651(h)(2)) — and checking for hazardous atmospheres (1926.651(k)(1)), keeping spoil and equipment back from the edge (1926.651(j)(2)), and pulling people out: "exposed employees shall be removed from the hazardous area until the necessary precautions have been taken to ensure their safety" (1926.651(k)(2)).
Egress: "A stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress shall be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth so as to require no more than 25 feet (7.62 m) of lateral travel for employees" (1926.651(c)(2)). Air testing: "Where oxygen deficiency (atmospheres containing less than 19.5 percent oxygen) or a hazardous atmosphere exists or could reasonably be expected to exist, such as in excavations in landfill areas or excavations in areas where hazardous substances are stored nearby, the atmospheres in the excavation shall be tested before employees enter excavations greater than 4 feet (1.22 m) in depth" (1926.651(g)(1)(i)).
"Each employee in an excavation shall be protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system designed in accordance with paragraph (b) or (c) of this section except when: (i) Excavations are made entirely in stable rock; or (ii) Excavations are less than 5 feet (1.52m) in depth and examination of the ground by a competent person provides no indication of a potential cave-in" (1926.652(a)(1)). Under 5 feet the exception needs that competent-person examination — 5 feet is a floor, not a green light.
"Sloping or benching for excavations greater than 20 feet deep shall be designed by a registered professional engineer" (App. B, Table B-1 note 3). Other designs come from tabulated data (the manufacturer's, or data approved by a registered professional engineer) or a registered professional engineer's own design (1926.652(b)(3)–(4), (c)(2)–(4)). This app's slope calculator gives no slope for depths greater than 20 feet for exactly this reason.
"A stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress shall be located in trench excavations that are 4 feet (1.22 m) or more in depth so as to require no more than 25 feet (7.62 m) of lateral travel for employees" (1926.651(c)(2)). In a long trench, that means multiple ladders, not one at the far end.
"When portable ladders are used for access to an upper landing surface, the ladder side rails shall extend at least 3 feet (.9 m) above the upper landing surface" (1926.1053(b)(1)) so there's something solid to grab stepping off at the top, not just air. If the ladder is too short for that, the rule requires it to be secured at the top and a grasping device such as a grabrail provided.
OSHA has said no to that. In a 2009 interpretation an employer asked to take the ladder out of a trench box once the crew was in, keep it staged at the exit, and have two trained workers outside ready to lower it. OSHA answered that this does not comply with 1926.651(c)(2): the means of egress must be available "for use by the employees at all times", and a ladder that first has to be lowered adds delay and is "inherently more susceptible to failure" (OSHA letter of interpretation, March 17, 2009). Crew practice: if the ladder has to come out (e.g. while the box is moved), the crew comes out first. Don't leave a crew in a trench with no way out, even for a few minutes.
"The classification of the deposits shall be made based on the results of at least one visual and at least one manual analysis" (App. A (c)(2)) — a visual test alone isn't enough to classify soil, no matter how confident the read is.
Look at the soil and the excavation itself (App. A (d)(1)): grain size and texture (fine/cohesive vs. coarse/granular), whether it clumps or crumbles as it's dug, cracks, fissures or spalling, utilities or other signs the soil was previously disturbed, layers that dip toward the trench, water seeping from the sides or standing water, and sources of vibration.
Press a thumb firmly into a fresh, undisturbed clump of soil. OSHA's benchmarks (App. A (d)(2)(iii)): "Type A soils with an unconfined compressive strength of 1.5 tsf can be readily indented by the thumb; however, they can be penetrated by the thumb only with very great effort." "Type C soils with an unconfined compressive strength of 0.5 tsf can be easily penetrated several inches by the thumb, and can be molded by light finger pressure." OSHA gives no thumb benchmark for Type B. Test the sample as soon as practical after it's dug — if the excavation is later exposed to rain or flooding, "the classification of the soil must be changed accordingly." OSHA accepts a thumb test done per Appendix A as the manual test, but its compliance officers prefer a penetrometer or shear vane because those give "a reading that can be recorded" (OSHA letter of interpretation, Oct. 28, 1993).
Dry a sample out, then try to break it (App. A (d)(2)(ii)). "If the soil is dry and crumbles on its own or with moderate pressure into individual grains or fine powder, it is granular" — gravel, sand or silt, Type B or C, never Type A. If it falls into clumps that break into smaller clumps, and those break only with difficulty, "it may be clay in any combination with gravel, sand or silt." If it breaks into clumps that don't break into smaller ones and can be broken only with difficulty, with no visual sign of fissures, it "may be considered unfissured." None of these alone makes soil Type A — strength, fissures, water and vibration still decide.
"Mold a moist or wet sample of soil into a ball and attempt to roll it into threads as thin as 1⁄8-inch in diameter. Cohesive material can be successfully rolled into threads without crumbling. For example, if at least a two inch (50 mm) length of 1⁄8-inch thread can be held on one end without tearing, the soil is cohesive" (App. A (d)(2)(i)). If it won't hold a thread or "ribbon" at all, it's granular — never Type A. Cohesive doesn't by itself mean Type A or B: Type C includes "Cohesive soil with an unconfined compressive strength of 0.5 tsf (48 kPa) or less" and "Submerged soil or soil from which water is freely seeping" (App. A (b)).
A spring-loaded gauge pushed into the soil gives an estimate of unconfined compressive strength in tsf (tons per square foot) (App. A (d)(2)(iv)). OSHA's strength lines (App. A (b)): Type A "1.5 ton per square foot (tsf) (144 kPa) or greater"; Type B "greater than 0.5 tsf (48 kPa) but less than 1.5 tsf (144 kPa)"; Type C "0.5 tsf (48 kPa) or less". Strength alone never makes soil Type A — fissured, vibrated, previously disturbed or seeping soil classifies lower. OSHA calls thumb, penetrometer and shear-vane results "only estimates" (OSHA letter of interpretation, Oct. 28, 1993) — one more reason a single test is never the full picture.
Crew practice: if tests point to two different types, or conditions are mixed or uncertain, classify the soil as the less stable of the two and protect accordingly. For layered soil it's written into the rule: "In a layered system, the system shall be classified in accordance with its weakest layer" (App. A (c)(4); the one exception is a more stable layer lying under a less stable one, which may be classified on its own). Guessing optimistic never has an upside here.
California requires an actual Cal/OSHA permit (Title 8 CCR §341 — either a Project Permit or an Annual Permit) for "Construction of trenches or excavations 5 feet or deeper into which any person is required to descend" (8 CCR §341(d)). This is a real permit obtained in advance from Cal/OSHA, on top of everything federal OSHA already requires — not just a paperwork formality.
Under California Labor Code §6705, a public works contract with "an estimated expenditure in excess of twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000)" for the excavation of any trench "five feet or more in depth" requires the contractor to submit a "detailed plan showing the design of shoring, bracing, sloping, or other provisions to be made for worker protection" to the awarding body, accepted "in advance of excavation."
BLS counted 1,030 deaths involving a confined space from 2011 to 2018 — from 88 (2012) to 166 (2017) a year, about two to three a week (BLS fact sheet, Fatal occupational injuries involving confined spaces, 2011–18).
This is the single most important number in this whole section. NIOSH's confined-space alert put it at "More than 60%" (NIOSH Pub. 86-110, 1986; in its own case set, 10 of the 16 deaths were rescuers). The typical pattern: one worker goes down from a bad atmosphere. A coworker climbs in to help without testing or air — and is overcome by the exact same hazard. Sometimes a third person follows. This is exactly why the attendant "Remains outside the permit space during entry operations until relieved by another attendant" (1926.1209(d)), and only once relieved may enter "to attempt a rescue when the employer's permit space program allows attendant entry for rescue and the attendant has been trained and equipped for rescue operations" (Note to 1926.1209(d)). The attendant never goes in on impulse, no matter what they're watching happen.
In every incident in NIOSH's 1986 alert, the killer was an oxygen-deficient or toxic atmosphere — undetectable without a meter, and capable of dropping a person before they even realize something's wrong. "It looked fine" has killed people.
NIOSH found that the atmosphere was typically not tested or evaluated before entry and that rescue was seldom planned (NIOSH Pub. 86-110, 1986) — the two things this app's confined space workflow is built to force you through every time.
Browse NIOSH FACE reports and filter/search for confined space incidents to read how real ones happened, in real detail. OSHA's fatality database is also searchable by keyword.
Falls, struck-by, electrocution, and caught-in/between together were 60.6% of construction deaths in 2014 (OSHA). OSHA's struck-by eTool: "Approximately 75% of struck-by fatalities involve heavy equipment such as trucks or cranes" — on this job that means excavators, dozers, loaders, trucks — not hand tools or small stuff.
Blind spots on an excavator or loader are bigger than most people think, and a machine that size gives zero feedback that it's about to move into you. Never assume you're seen just because you can see the machine.
Make eye contact with the operator and get a clear acknowledgment before entering any equipment's work area — not a wave in your general direction, actual acknowledgment that they see you specifically. If you can't see the operator's face, they can't see you either.
An excavator's counterweight and boom can sweep through space you were standing in a second ago with no warning. There's no "quick dash through it" — treat the swing radius as off-limits the entire time the machine is running, not just while it's actively swinging.
"No employer shall permit earthmoving or compacting equipment which has an obstructed view to the rear to be used in reverse gear unless the equipment has in operation a reverse signal alarm distinguishable from the surrounding noise level or an employee signals that it is safe to do so" (1926.602(a)(9)(ii)) — but alarms get ignored or drowned out on a loud site. Stay clear of the path, don't rely on the beep alone.
Wear high-visibility clothing, stay somewhere the operator can actually see you the entire time, use pre-established hand signals (not improvised ones), and never take your eyes off the equipment while it's moving. A spotter who looks away is not spotting.
Getting pinned between a moving machine and something fixed — a wall, a parked truck, a trench wall, a pipe stack — kills just as dead as being struck directly. Don't position yourself, or your tools, in that gap even briefly.
Browse NIOSH FACE reports and filter/search for struck-by or machinery incidents. OSHA's fatality database is also searchable by keyword for real cited cases.
These are common, well-documented, well-understood failure patterns with a known fix: use the box, slope it right, test the air, stay out of the swing radius, never go in after someone without being trained and equipped to do it. The rules exist because people already died finding out why they're there.
EDUCATION
Glossary
A point of known, established elevation used as a fixed reference to set up from.
A rod reading taken on a point of known elevation, used to establish the instrument's HI.
A rod reading taken on a point whose elevation you're trying to find.
How far down from a stake mark to the target grade.
How far up from a stake mark to the target grade.
The design elevation a point of the pipe (usually the invert) is supposed to be at.
What a Lenker rod gives you — the number on the rod already is the elevation, no HI math needed.
The inside bottom of the pipe — the number that actually matters for flow and grade.
The horizontal centerline of the pipe, its widest point.
The outside top of the pipe (same as TOP).
The female (bell) and male (spigot) ends of a pipe section that join together — the spigot inserts into the bell.
Distance from a fitting's theoretical center to the internal stop shoulder, where the pipe actually seats.
The prepared material a pipe rests on in the trench, providing uniform support along its length.
Bedding material placed and compacted up around the lower sides of the pipe, up to the springline, for lateral support.
One layer of backfill placed and compacted before the next layer goes on top.
Depth of soil/backfill over the top of the pipe.
"a method of protecting employees from cave-ins by excavating to form sides of an excavation that are inclined away from the excavation so as to prevent cave-ins" (1926.650(b)).
"a method of protecting employees from cave-ins by excavating the sides of an excavation to form one or a series of horizontal levels or steps, usually with vertical or near-vertical surfaces between levels" (1926.650(b)).
"a structure such as a metal hydraulic, mechanical or timber shoring system that supports the sides of an excavation and which is designed to prevent cave-ins" (1926.650(b)).
A shield is "a structure that is able to withstand the forces imposed on it by a cave-in and thereby protect employees within the structure" (1926.650(b)) — a trench box. It protects the workers inside; it doesn't stop the wall from caving.
"one who is capable of identifying existing and predictable hazards in the surroundings, or working conditions which are unsanitary, hazardous, or dangerous to employees, and who has authorization to take prompt corrective measures to eliminate them" (1926.650(b)). Inspections "shall be made by a competent person" daily, "prior to the start of work and as needed throughout the shift", and "after every rainstorm or other hazard increasing occurrence" (1926.651(k)(1)). Crew practice: have one on site whenever anyone is in the trench.
Excavated material piled next to the trench. OSHA: protect employees "by placing and keeping such materials or equipment at least 2 feet (.61 m) from the edge of excavations, or by the use of retaining devices that are sufficient to prevent materials or equipment from falling or rolling into excavations, or by a combination of both if necessary" (1926.651(j)(2)).
A confined space (one that "Is large enough and so configured that an employee can bodily enter it", "Has limited or restricted means for entry and exit" and "Is not designed for continuous employee occupancy") that "Contains or has a potential to contain a hazardous atmosphere", "Contains a material that has the potential for engulfing an entrant", has an internal configuration "such that an entrant could be trapped or asphyxiated by inwardly converging walls or by a floor which slopes downward and tapers to a smaller cross-section", or "Contains any other recognized serious safety or health hazard" (1926.1202).
"the minimum concentration of a substance in air needed for an ignition source to cause a flame or explosion" (1926.1202, "Lower flammable limit or lower explosive limit"). Air monitors read LEL as a percentage of that threshold, not a percentage of total air.
"an individual stationed outside one or more permit spaces who assesses the status of authorized entrants and who must perform the duties specified in § 1926.1209" (1926.1202). The attendant "Remains outside the permit space during entry operations until relieved by another attendant" (1926.1209(d)); only once relieved, and only if the program allows it and they are "trained and equipped for rescue operations", may they enter to attempt a rescue (Note to 1926.1209(d)).
OSHA's term is authorized entrant: "an employee who is authorized by the entry supervisor to enter a permit space" (1926.1202).
"the qualified person (such as the employer, foreman, or crew chief) responsible for determining if acceptable entry conditions are present at a permit space where entry is planned, for authorizing entry and overseeing entry operations, and for terminating entry as required by this standard" (1926.1202).
CREW MEMBERS
Crew members
Add crew member
Role
How adding works
Someone with no account gets an invite email. The link opens the app and asks them to set a password. Someone who already has an account and isn’t in a company gets an invitation in the app instead; they join, and count as a member, only when they accept it. Invitations expire after 7 days, and you can withdraw one before it is answered. Until they accept, you see only their email. Someone already in another company can’t be added yet. A company can send up to 30 invites a day, and the sign-in email service also has an hourly limit. Only the owner can add a project manager.
Your crew
Foremen and pipelayers pair up themselves in My production.
Waiting to accept
What project managers, managers and removal mean
A project manager (PM) has their own login to the company account: they see and do what the company account does on every job, and get the alerts of the jobs they are assigned to. Each PM is a paid seat. A PM can’t change billing or ownership, and can’t change or remove the owner or another PM. Managers can read reports and dashboards and edit plans. Only the owner can make or remove project managers and managers. Removing someone takes away their access to company screens. Everything they already filed (production, tickets, permits) stays the company’s, and their own records on their phone stay on their phone.
Job alerts
Each job’s job and material alerts go to the PMs assigned to it on its job page: a push right away, and one email in the morning on days a material needs a look. A job with no PM sends them to the company account.
COMPANY LOGO
Company logo
Your logo goes at the top of every report your company makes. Each page still says “Made with The Pipelayer’s Bible” at the bottom.
On your reports
Preview · not saved yet
Which files work
PNG, JPEG or SVG, up to 2 MB. A logo with a transparent background looks best. The app turns it into a PNG no bigger than 800 pixels on its longest side and trims empty space around it. SVG files are cleaned first: scripts and links to other files are taken out. Without a logo, reports show your company name in bold. Your crews’ phones pick up a new logo the next time they have signal; until then they keep using the last one they had.
Records
Records
Office
My runs & permits
What’s kept where
- Pipe runs: saved on this phone. When you’re signed in, a copy of each locked run also goes to your account (the run shows Cloud copy once that’s confirmed). Run photos, field notes and later corrections stay only on this phone, and runs can’t be brought back from your account onto a phone yet.
- Closed confined space permits: saved on this phone and backed up to your account when you’re signed in, where they’re kept permanently (see Permit backup). Their photos stay only on the phone that took them.
- Management reports: delivered to your company through the app; this Records keeps your own copy. A report kept with Save Without Sending stays only on this phone until you send it.
- Field tickets: sent to your company’s account, with their photos, when there’s signal.
- Stats and Quick Run: only on this phone. They’re lost if the app’s data on this phone is cleared or the phone is lost. Download a spreadsheet or PDF to keep a copy.
About emailing reports
You can still email run, permit and Stats snapshot reports: Send Email on one record, or Email All Un-sent Reports for every un-sent one in a single email, regardless of the filters above. Both open your own email app; the app doesn’t send anything itself, and asks you afterwards whether you sent it. Very long combined text may get truncated by some mail apps.
Management reports are not emailed: they’re delivered through the app. Open one here, or in My Management Reports, to send it or see its status.
REPORT TO MANAGEMENT
Management report
About anonymous reports
An anonymous report goes through the app with no login attached. Your company sees “Anonymous” and only the hour it was sent — never your name, your account or the exact time — and nothing stored with the report links it to you. For your privacy it leaves this phone on its own a few minutes after the app’s other traffic (usually within 15 minutes while the app is open), and reaches management at the end of that hour. Management can reply in the app; you read replies in My Management Reports and stay anonymous. What is still true: the app’s hosting service (Supabase) keeps request logs for 1 to 7 days — the internet address, the phone and browser type, and the time of every request. Only the app owner can see those logs, and with them could match an anonymous request to this phone. What you write, and what your photos show, can also give you away. Your phone keeps your own copy and the secret key for reading replies.Management also sees the email you sign in with.
Reports aren’t an emergency line. For anything urgent, call.Sent means your company’s inbox has it, not that a manager has read it or acted on it.
What happens to this report
Send Report sends it to your company’s management through the app — no email. The To line above shows where it goes. It is saved on this phone first; with no signal it waits here and goes by itself, and the app never says Sent until the server has it.
No one to send it to yet? Save Without Sending keeps it in your Records marked Not sent. Nothing is sent; it’s listed under Saved, not sent in My Management Reports, where you can send it later.
A copy of what you send is kept in your own Records — even anonymous ones — so you have a record of what you reported and when.
REPORT TO MANAGEMENT
Report Receipt
My Management Reports
My Management Reports
MANAGEMENT INBOX
Management inbox
About anonymous reports
Anonymous reports carry no name, no account and no exact time — only the hour they were sent. They arrive at the top of the next hour. The app doesn’t show you who sent one, but what’s written or shown in the photos may still point to someone. You can still reply; the sender reads it on their phone.
COMPANY PERMITS
Company permit records
Closed confined space permits your crews backed up. They can’t be changed or removed. If a permit was updated on a phone after closing (for example, marked as emailed), every version is kept.
RECORDS
Report
FIELD TICKETS
Field tickets
Delivery, material and sub tickets you recorded.
Help
A field ticket is your record of what a supplier or sub will bill. Check the ticket before you sign it; the app doesn’t approve or dispute tickets. Each ticket is saved on this phone first and syncs to your company when you have signal. The original photo is kept with the synced ticket; after that this phone keeps only a small picture of it.
FIELD TICKET
New ticket
Items
Saved on this phone first. It syncs to your company when you have signal.
COMPANY TICKETS
Company tickets
Totals from your crews’ synced field tickets. Read-only.
Tickets
COMPANY PRODUCTION
Company production
Live production from all your crews, by job. Tap a job for its details and plan. Materials read used / ordered / expected; bedding amounts are estimates.
How % complete is worked out
Each bar is one job, split into its categories. A category’s % is done ÷ planned and can go over 100%. The job’s overall % is the average of the categories that have a planned quantity, each counted at most 100% (by the job’s weights or budget hours when every planned category has them; otherwise equally). A category with no planned quantity shows its amount instead and is left out. Foremen enter each run session’s own work (that day’s work), and the app adds the sessions up.
JOB
Job
Company
Company
Company
New job
INSPECTIONS & TESTS
My inspections & tests
The office adds inspections and tests to a job and assigns a foreman. Check each one off when it is done: the result, the inspector and agency, when it happened, notes and photos. A check-off can’t be changed later; a failed test stays open for its retest.
CHECK OFF
Check off
INSPECTIONS & TESTS
Inspections & tests
Add the inspections and tests each job needs and assign a foreman; the foreman checks them off in the field. Tap a job for its items, their history and the foremen’s signed daily reports.
JOB INSPECTIONS
Inspections & daily reports
Job
Locates
DAILY REPORT
Daily report
One report per job per day. The app pulls in the day’s runs and production, crew and equipment hours, materials, notes, inspections and tests, permits and the weather, each with its source. You add your narrative and sign it. Once signed it can’t be changed; a correction is an amendment, and the company sees every version.
Drawn signature (optional)
PRODUCTION
Work without a run
For work done without the run calculator. It becomes a normal production entry for the job, labelled “Entered without a run (manual)”. No grade or cut/fill is worked out: there are no elevations.
Your entries without a run
JOB BOOK
Job book
MY PRODUCTION
My production
Today
Earlier
Your jobs
How production syncs
Enter each session’s own work, not a running total: on your run, on your crew’s runs here, on a run you claimed, or in Work without a run. It’s saved on this phone and syncs with signal. Excavation, pipe, backfill and restoration are in feet (LF), structures in EA; crew hours count toward the job’s budget hours. Later changes are sent too, and the company keeps every version.
JOBS
Jobs Not Sent
Not sent yet
From your runs, permits and Stats, plus jobs you add.
Help
Job numbers and jobsites from your own runs, permits and Stats on this phone, plus any you add here. Looking at a job here never changes a run or a permit.
ARCHIVE
Job Summary
Totals for one job number, from this phone’s Records.
About Job Summary
Rolls up every locked run under one Job Number — footage, takeoff, volumes, crew. For handing to a PM or super.
It reads this phone’s Records only. Runs saved on other phones, and your company’s records, aren’t included.
STATS
Stats
Runs locked with a pipe type. Kept on this phone only.
About Stats
Only runs where you picked a pipe type get tracked here. Stats are stored only on this phone: they aren’t backed up to your account, and they’re lost if the app’s data on this phone is cleared. Download a spreadsheet or PDF to keep a copy.
Why Stats and Job Summary differ
Stats and Job Summary count differently, so their totals don’t have to match. Stats counts only runs locked with a pipe type, filtered here by time period, pipe type and jobsite. Job Summary counts every archived run under one job number, with or without a pipe type.
Share and download
About sharing
Save / Share Stats opens your own email app with a plain-text summary. Nothing is sent until you send it there. A mail link can’t attach files, so to send the PDF or spreadsheet, download it below and attach it yourself.
Manage Stats
Deletes the Stats records on this phone only. Download a copy first: a snapshot report goes to Records (Contractor plan). Your archived runs, their reports and Job Summary are not changed.
No Stats data on this phone to clear.
TRENCH SLOPING
Trench Sloping
Details
These are OSHA's Table B-1 maximum allowable slopes (29 CFR 1926 Subpart P App B), which cover excavations “less than 20 feet deep”. Benching isn't permitted in Type C. Type A allows an unsupported vertical lower portion (max 3.5 ft, ≤12 ft depth) instead of full sloping — toggle below if it applies. “Sloping or benching for excavations greater than 20 feet deep shall be designed by a registered professional engineer” (App. B, Table B-1 note 3); any non-standard condition also needs a P.E.'s design.PIPE WEIGHT
Pipe Weight
Plain wall only, approximate density: bells, lining and coating aren't counted, so real pipe weighs more. For a lift plan, use the manufacturer's weight.
BACKFILL LIFTS
Backfill Lift Count
How much a loose lift shrinks when compacted. Loose fill usually loses 25–35%. Rough rule of thumb: use your compaction spec or the engineer’s numbers.
SLOPE CONVERTER
Slope / Grade Converter
How the ratio is written
Ratio here is vertical : horizontal, rise or fall over run. 2% is 1 : 50, one foot vertical for every 50 ft horizontal; 100% is 1 : 1. This converts the size of a slope only. Whether it rises or falls is set by the run, and other tools may write slopes the other way round (OSHA’s trench tables use horizontal : vertical).
TENTHS / INCHES
Tenths ↔ Inches
Converts a decimal reading into feet-inches-fraction you can mark with a tape, and back.
MANNING'S EQUATION
Manning's Equation
About full-pipe flow
Capacity/velocity for a pipe flowing completely full. Real flow is usually partial — this is a full-pipe estimate under gravity-flow assumptions, not a hard maximum and not everyday flow.
MANHOLE DEPTH
Manhole Rim-to-Invert Depth
What this adds up
Depth is rim elevation minus invert elevation. The barrel count is a simplified height budget: the depth, less the one cone or top section height you enter, divided by one barrel section height. It leaves out the base, frame and cover, grade rings and joints, and it isn’t a takeoff or an order. Check the actual assembly against the approved detail and the manufacturer’s drawings.
ROD READING CONVERTER
Rod Reading → Elevation
For Engineer's/Architect's Rod. Shoot a known-elevation point to set HI — every reading after gives elevation directly.
Using a Lenker rod?
You don't need this: the number on a Lenker rod is already the elevation (a direct reading).
What is HI?
HI = “Height of Instrument” — elevation of the level's line of sight (known elevation + reading), not the tripod height.
CONFINED SPACE
Confined Space
What this covers
This captures the fields OSHA/Cal-OSHA require on an entry permit and timestamps everything, to reduce missed steps. It doesn't replace atmospheric testing, training, a competent person's evaluation, or your company's program.
NEW ENTRY PERMIT
Entry Permit
What Reuse fills in
Fills in the hazards, controls, ventilation-failure plan, acceptable conditions and gas limits, rescue and communication info, the EMERGENCY number and the second contact from the last closed-out permit. All of it stays editable; the space, purpose, window, people and reminders are not changed.
Location & Work
Links this permit to Job Summary with any pipe runs on the same job.
The street address you’d give a 911 dispatcher.
Anything that helps responders find the way in.
Permit Window
Times are this phone’s time.
About time zones and overnight
People & Communication
Entered personally by the supervisor named above, confirming they reviewed this permit and authorize entry.
What locking records
Locking records the date and time as your authorization. After that the permit fields can’t be changed (only the EMERGENCY number can); air tests and the roster are logged as entry proceeds.
Routine check-ins between the crew during the entry — not emergency response.
A reminder only. Blank means no reminder, never 0 minutes.
Hazards & Controls
Why check these
Check any that apply — gives rescuers a fast, scannable list of what they're walking into.
How the app uses these limits
The app checks every logged air test against these limits and sounds EVACUATE when one is outside them. A blank field uses the standard value in its label — it never turns the app’s check off. Enter your own only where your program or this space calls for different limits, and keep using your gas meter’s own alarm too. H2S and CO are checked on the tests where they are measured; a blank reading means not measured, never zero.
A reminder to log a fresh test, not a gas limit. It also sets how old the last test can be before check-in is blocked (20 min when blank). Blank means no reminder, never 0 minutes.
Rescue & Emergency Plan
What the EMERGENCY button does
For outside emergency response, not routine check-ins. The EMERGENCY button opens your phone’s dialer with 911 (the number below), pauses the reminders, and shows a dispatcher script and a report you can email to whoever dispatch directs.
911 unless this site has its own rescue number or the country uses a different one. Can’t be blank.
About a second contact
The primary number is the one the EMERGENCY button dials: 911. Add a second only if someone else is worth reaching — an on-call super, safety contact.
Notes & Photos
Worked out from the fields above by the same rules the locked permit uses. Limits and the window can’t be changed after Lock.
ACTIVE PERMIT
Active Permit
Why
Attendant: call for trained rescue right away instead of going in after them. NIOSH: “More than 60% of confined space fatalities occur among would-be rescuers.” Calling for rescue is the job — going in yourself can make two victims instead of one.Reminders only. They run while this screen is open and awake, and may not sound if the phone is locked.
About the air test reminder
Reminds you to log a fresh reading below. Same limit as the comms timer — only fires while open and awake.
About the comm check reminder
Reminders only fire while this screen is open and awake — browsers suspend background timers, so don't rely on this if the phone might sleep.
Closing out checks who is still inside and saves the record first. It is not the emergency control — that is the red EMERGENCY button at the top of this screen.
NEW RUN
Run Setup
Or enter the run by hand below.
1Job & Pipe
Job detailsNot entered
Off: the run is still saved, but not counted in Stats. Turn on to add the job, crew or notes.
Run 1 only; additional runs have their own.
Pipe size changes partway?
Add an additional run below (a reducer) instead of starting over.
2Points & Instrument
Manhole, cleanout, lateral, slope break, or any other real point along the run.
Same instrument setup (same HI) only. Moved the instrument? Lock this run and start a New Run.
NEW RUN
Import From Cutsheet
Upload the PDF or paste rows. Both stay on this phone. Reading with AI is a separate choice below, and needs signal.
How importing works
Upload the PDF or paste rows — both stay local, nothing sent anywhere. If that fails (a scanned PDF with no text layer), AI reading below can help instead, which does send the PDF to Anthropic.
Read on this phoneStays on this phone
A PDF with a text layer is read here, with no signal. If the phone can’t read it, nothing is sent anywhere until you choose AI reading below.
Don’t use AI reading (below) with confidential or sensitive project info.
Read with AI: internet requiredSent to Anthropic
Only when you tap an AI button: the photo (or the PDF the phone couldn’t read) goes through the app’s server to Anthropic to be read, and the rows come back here for you to check. Without signal it can’t run.
For a paper or scanned sheet. Sent to Anthropic to be read; not stored by the app. Don’t use AI with confidential project info.
Example row format
Example of the expected format — this is just a sample, not something already in the box below:
20260 0+00.00 L 20.00 20/SD CL CB #4 TG 2394.00 C-6.09 2400.09 2291289.61 6381670.85
The same row, column by column, in the order the app reads it:
- 1. Stake # (required)
20260. A letter may follow (2A). - 2. Station (required)
0+00.00 L 20.00: station 0+00.00, 20.00 ft left of the line. 1+50 or 150.00 both mean 150 ft. The side and offset are optional. A row with only a point number instead of a station is listed but can’t be a run point. - 3. Description (optional)
20/SD CL CB #4 TG. “20/SD” is a 20 ft offset to the storm drain, not a pipe size. Rows like this one (TG, rim, FG, TC, BM, L/O) are listed but not pre-checked as pipe points. - 4. Plan elevation (required)
2394.00. Checked, not imported: stake elevation minus the cut must match it within 0.01 ft. - 5. Cut/Fill (required)
C-6.09: cut 6.09 ft. C is always down and F always up; a + or − after the letter doesn’t change that. - 6. Stake elevation (required)
2400.09. The invert imported is stake elevation − cut (or + fill): 2400.09 − 6.09 = 2394.00. - 7–8. Northing, Easting (required, not imported)
2291289.61 6381670.85. They end the row.
Limits: numbers need a decimal point (2394.00, not 2394); feet-inches values aren’t read; spaces or tabs between columns both work, and thousands commas are fine in the number columns. A line the app can’t read is listed under “couldn’t be read”, never guessed. More in Education: Reading Stationing & Cutsheets.
QUICK RUN
Quick Run
About Quick Run
Grade math only. Nothing goes to Records, Stats or management. What you enter is kept on this phone until you clear it, so you can come back to it.
How the fourth value is worked out
Enter three of the four values; the fourth is calculated and marked Calculated. You can type over it.
Fall is positive: + means the pipe drops from start to end.
Enter three of the four values; the fourth is calculated.
How far apart the rows in the table are (the interval). Blank uses 10 ft.
PRE-LOCK REVIEW
Check Before Locking
LOCKED RESULT
Run Results
Tap + on a row to add a timestamped field note, with optional photos.
Swipe a row right to mark pipe laid to there; swipe it back to undo. The row’s calculator button has Mark laid too.
Quick entries for this run. Each one keeps the phone’s time and zone and who saved it; an edit keeps the earlier version.
Finish this run
What ending does
Ending marks the run finished and stops its clock. You can still send or save its report afterward.
Corrections
Change the locked record. Each change is kept in its history.
For the foreman — production quantities for this run, separate from grade data above. Optional, editable anytime.
Who can see this
Foremen, PMs, managers, the company account and accounts not in a company. A company pipelayer doesn’t see it: their foreman enters it.Who worked this run, for how long, and the equipment used.
How the log works
For the foreman — tracks who worked this run, for how long, and equipment used. Same check-in/out as confined space.
Who can see these two sections
Foremen, managers, PMs, the company account and accounts not in a company. A pipelayer in a company never sees them: their foreman enters production and crew hours for their runs.