This seems egregious to me too, since there were people in it. I can imagine laying a pipe 12ft down without ever having anyone in the trench. I wonder if tha

This seems egregious to me too, since there were people in it. I can imagine laying a pipe 12ft down without ever having anyone in the trench. I wonder if that's common practice? (The obvious issue with doing it that way is that someone will a tool or the pipe will get snagged or whatever, and then someone will go down to fix it without bothering to order + install the shoring.)