OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #221646458

SMITH DIRT WORKS, INC

DUBUQUE, IA· 2024-03-01T00:00:00

Event: Asphyxiated, Clearing, Construction, Engulfed, Excavation, Excavator, Inexperience, Insufficient Supervision, Laborer, Lack of Engineering Controls, Lack of Work Procedures, Misjudgment, Misjudgment of Hazardous Situation, Pipe, Sewer, Shovel, Soil, Struck By, Trench, Unstable Soil
NAICS: 238910
Inspection type: Federal Agency
Activity number: #347321036
Employer profile: SMITH DIRT WORKS, INC
Summary number: 221646458
Report ID: 0751910
Project type: A
Construction end-use: B

Event description

Employee dies, is asphyxiated laying pipe when trench collap

Investigation abstract

At 9:00 a.m. on March 1, 2024, an employee working as a construction laborer and a coworker were attempting to locate a sewer pipe. The employee entered a 4-feet wide by approximately 9-feet deep by approximately 12-feet long trench to clear dirt from around the pipe. The trench had nearly vertical walls. The employee was clearing the dirt by hand with a shovel when a trench wall collapsed. The employee was crushed by the falling dirt, rocks and sand and died from asphyxiation.

Victim

#1 Fatality Age 21 M

Event type
1

Occupation code
7010

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.