105,313Records 71,083Employers 85,290Hospitalizations 27,770Amputations 2015-01-01 2025-10-31
Safety Incidents OSHA Severe Injury Reports · 2015–2025

OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14470702

PINNED,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,SHORING,UNSTABLE SOIL,SLOPING,BURIED,CAVE-IN,CONTUSION,LEG

Event
PINNED,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,SHORING,UNSTABLE SOIL,SLOPING,BURIED,CAVE-IN,CONTUSION,LEG
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14470702
Report ID
316700

Event description

One employee killed, one injured in trench cave-in

Investigation abstract

On April 14, 1986, Employees #1 and #2 were in a 114 ft long trench that was 5 f t deep at the manhole at the west end and 13 ft deep at the east end. The employ ees entered the trench where it was 13 ft deep to set up a laser that would help align a sewage pipe that was being installed. Without warning, the north wall o f the trench caved in. Employee #1 was completely buried and killed. Employee #2 's legs were pinned and he sustained minor bruises. The east-west running trench was neither shored nor sloped. The soil was a mixture of clay and fill.

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 19 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    5
    Event type
    1
    Source
    12
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    4
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 24 M

    Nature of injury
    3
    Part of body
    18
    Event type
    1
    Source
    12
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    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.