OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #14563019
SUFFOCATED,CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,SHORING,SLOPING,BURIED,CAVE-IN
Event description
TRENCH CAVE IN
Investigation abstract
EMPLOYEE #1 AND ANOTHER (GOVERNMENT) WORKER WERE WORKING IN A CURVED TRENCH. THE TRENCH WAS DUG IN UNSTABLE SANDY SOIL AND WAS 10 FEET DEEP, THREE FEET WIDE AND 75 FEET LONG. EMPLOYEE #1 WAS LAYING DRAIN PIPE. THE OTHER EMPLOYEE WAS OBSERVI NG. AN 11,000 POUND BACKHOE WAS OPERATING 30 FEET FROM THE EMPLOYEES. A TWELVE F OOT BY THREE FOOT SECTION OF THE TRENCH WALL SLID DOWN, BURYING EMPLOYEE #1 UNDE R TWELVE INCHES OF SOIL. HE WAS BURIED IN A CROUCHED POSITION. THE OTHER EMPLOYE E WAS STANDING UP AND WAS BURIED UP TO HIS NECK. EMPLOYEE #1 SUFFOCATED BEFORE H E COULD BE RESCUED. THE OTHER EMPLOYEE WAS RESCUED.
Victim
-
#1 Fatality Age 32 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 4
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 12
- Occupation code
- 999
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 4
- 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.