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 #14519896

LOSS OF BLOOD,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,SHORING,STRUCK BY,BURIED,CAVE-IN

Event
LOSS OF BLOOD,COLLAPSE,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,SHORING,STRUCK BY,BURIED,CAVE-IN
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
14519896
Report ID
625700

Event description

TRENCH COLLAPSED; EMPLOYEE KILLED BY COLLAPSING MATERIAL

Investigation abstract

A TRENCH WAS BEING EXCAVATED IN PREVIOUSLY DISTURBED SOIL. WHILE THE BUILDING PL ANS CALLED FOR A 3 FOOT DEEP TRENCH, A 6 FOOT DEEP TRENCH WAS ACTUALLY DUG. ONLY ONE SIDE WAS BENCHED. (HOWEVER, THE BENCHED SIDE WAS THE SIDE THAT COLLAPSED.) THE EMPLOYEE WAS STRUCK IN THE BACK BY THE SOIL, WHICH SETTLED AROUND HIS LEGS. A VERBAL MEDICAL REPORT TO THE EMPLOYER INDICATES THAT THE EMPLOYEE'S LUNGS MAY HAVE BEEN PUNCTURED; HE REPORTEDLY "DROWNED" IN HIS OWN BLOOD.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 42 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    5
    Event type
    1
    Source
    12
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    6
    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.