OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14210975
KNEE,FRACTURE,GRADER,UNSECURED,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,UNSTABLE SOIL,CAVE-IN
Event description
EMPLOYEE INJURED WHEN TRENCH CAVES IN
Investigation abstract
On January 2, 1986, employees were digging a trench to install an 8-in.steel pip as hospitalized with injuries to the right knee, consisting of pulled ligaments, torn cartilage, and a fractured bone. e gas line. Employee #1 was working as a grade-man to support the backhoe operat or. The employee was responsible for the depth of the trench and keeping the bot tom of the trench level. The backhoe operator had just uncovered a water line ho use tap. When Employee #1 entered the trench to dig out the area around the wate r line, the right trench wall caved in, burying Employee #1 to the waist. The tr ench was approximately 2.5-ft wide by 6-ft deep and about 40-ft long at the time of the accident. The trench soil consisted of fill dirt and shale. No shoring w as installed in the area of the trench where the cave-in occurred. Employee #1 w
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 22 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 15
- Event type
- 14
- Source
- 12
- Occupation code
- 869
- Human factor
- 4
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
Codes shown verbatim from OSHA's accident-investigation database. A human-readable decoder is coming in a future release once the accident_lookup2 dictionary is loaded.