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 #14494223

SEWER,ASPHYXIATED,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,CAVE-IN,LEG

Event
SEWER,ASPHYXIATED,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,CAVE-IN,LEG
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14494223
Report ID
627400

Event description

ONE EMPLOYEE KILLED, ONE INJURED IN TRENCH CAVE-IN

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEE #1 ENTERED A 21 FOOT DEEP OPEN TRENCH BEING DUG FOR A SEWER TAP TO LOCA TE THE MAIN SEWER LINE. THE NORTH WALL OF THE TRENCH COLLAPSED AND ENGULFED EMPL OYEE #1. IN A RESCUE ATTEMPT, EMPLOYEE #2 AND ANOTHER EMPLOYEE WENT INTO THE TRE NCH TO DIG OUT EMPLOYEE #1. THE TRENCH'S SOUTH WALL THEN COLLAPSED, TRAPPING THE M ALSO. EMPLOYEE #1 DIED FROM ASPHYXIA. EMPLOYEE #2 WAS HOSPITALIZED FOR APPAREN T LEG PARALYSIS. THE THIRD EMPLOYEE WAS NOT INJURED.

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    2
    Source
    12
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    Task assigned
    2
  2. #2 Hospitalized Age 28 M

    Nature of injury
    21
    Part of body
    16
    Event type
    2
    Source
    12
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    18
    Task assigned
    2

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.