Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025
105,991Records 71,450Employers 85,836Hospitalizations 27,959Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-11-30

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14387625

NORTHWESTERN INDUSTRIAL PIPING, INC

Event
CHEST, HEART, FRACTURE, CONSTRUCTION, TRENCH, SHORING, UNSTABLE SOIL, SLOPING, CAVE-IN
NAICS
000000
Inspection type
Accident-driven
Activity number
#100120013
Employer profile
NORTHWESTERN INDUSTRIAL PIPING, INC
Summary number
14387625
Report ID
524200

Event description

EMPLOYEE KILLED IN TRENCH CAVE-IN

Investigation abstract

THE COMPANY WAS INSTALLING A CAST IRON WATER LINE WHEN ONE OF THE TRENCH WALLS C AVED IN ON EMPLOYEE #1. THE IMPACT OF THE MOVING SOIL THREW EMPLOYEE #1 AGAINST HIS HAND SHOVEL. THE SHOVEL HANDLE FRACTURED BONES IN HIS CHEST, IN TURN CAUSING DAMAGE TO HIS HEART. THE TRENCH WAS 7 1/2 FEET DEEP AND 5 FEET WIDE, WITH VERTI CAL WALLS. PENETROMETER AND TORVANE TESTS DEMONSTRATED THAT THE SOIL WAS SOFT AN D UNSTABLE. NO SHORING WAS USED.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 26 M

    Nature of injury
    18
    Part of body
    5
    Event type
    1
    Source
    43
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    9
    Environmental factor
    4
    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.