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[vjek]

The way I dig out anything of any size, 100% safely:

Only use one miner.  One dwarf in the entire fort should have the mining labour enabled.  Only one.  Just one.  One.

If on the surface, first cut down all the trees in the area you want to hollow out/dig out.

To start, pause the game.
Next, at the top layer, designate downwards stairs in the entire area you want dug out.
On the bottom layer, designate upward stairs in the entire area you want dug out.
In between the top and bottom layers, designate up/down stairs in the entire area you want dug out.

Now, unpause the game let the miner dig all that out.

To make it hollow/air where all the stairs are:
Starting at the top layer, designate channel on all the downward stairs.
Once that is done:
On the next layer down, designate channel on all the up/down stairs.
Once that is done:
... repeat until the bottom layer. ...
Once that is done:
On the bottom layer, designate remove stairs on all the upward stairs

What happens is, after the first level is channeled out, all the rest of the channeling is done from below.  With a single dwarf doing the work, there is no chance of one dwarf excavating where another is working. (which is how fatalities occur, even using this method, if you have more than one dwarf with the Mining labour enabled.)

I have used this method dozens of times in very large projects and have yet to lose a single dwarf.  If this is unclear, I'll provide some pictures.

[Triaxx2]

Channel inside out. So if you're channeling a 10x10, you channel out the 2x2 in the middle then when it's done, the 4x4 around the edge. Provide them on opportunity to actually cause the cave-in and you'll be okay.

You don't actually need mechanisms to use a support. Basically you build one wall, one ramp, and three floors, then a support. Then just order the first of the three floors deconstructed once all other support has been removed. The remainder of the floor will fall.

Or you could take advantage of it. Mine out each level down you want, then channel the floor one tile larger all round and the last one will send it plummeting, punching through the mined floors all the way down.

[wuphonsreach]

Big open pits have to be done 1Z level at a time.  They tend to be a multi-year project as a result.

You can however, dig 1x1 pits top to bottom in a single designation.  Just make sure that the lowest tile does not have any open space (or digging designation) below it.  The miner will start at the top of the dig and keep going until they hit bottom.

I only do big pits in cases where they can be 1-3Z deep to start, with plans to make them deeper as time goes on.  Eventually, they'll end up as 10-30Z deep pits, but it takes a long time.  They do make nice pit mines for raw stones.

[Panando]

If you want to dig something deep - perhaps deeper than 10 z-levels, then cave-ins are the way to go:

Understanding cave-ins:
Walls and upstairs stop cave-ins
Floors and downstairs are destroyed by cave-ins
Upstairs, up/downstairs and constructed walls are destroyed or deconstructed if they themselves cave-in

The upshot of this, is that you can dig out every layer of your prospective deep pit as floors or downstairs, and the interior can be up/downstairs for access.
Once it's dug out, remove any upstairs from the bottom level so it's completely open.

Now drop a ring of constructed floors to "ring" the shaft. This will destroy all floors and downstairs under it, the core will momentarily hang in space then itself cave-in, annihilating itself.

This is regarded as the generally fasted, cleanest and safest method of doing deep shafts. You might want to experiment with this on a new embark before trying it in a real fortress though.

[Laserhead]

A trick I use, is to dig an area one level below the surface out as a bunch of up stairs. Chop down all the trees on the surface, and then seal the front door (wall it off, raise a drawbridge, forbid a door...).

Then designate all the surface above the upstairs for channeling. The miners will stand on the upstairs and channel the surface out from below, and the upstairs support any sections of floor they haven't gotten yet. Build the replacement floor the same way. If they can get out to the surface your miners and masons will take the long way around and be at risk of getting ambushed, but if there is no way out they'll settle for digging and building from below. Surface things (other than flying things) can't get in while you're working because an upstair doesn't let things move diagonally.

[krenshala]

I use the ramp up method, one level at a time.  Since they typically work west to east, I will sometimes start the next level down by partially designating it when the level above hasn't been dug yet, but always limit the designation to what has already been dug out.

For the surface layer, I use channelling now that the miners no longer fall if they channel out the tile they are standing in.