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 #606251

CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,SHORING,SLOPING,CAVE-IN

Event
CONSTRUCTION,TRENCH,SHORING,SLOPING,CAVE-IN
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
606251
Report ID
418100

Event description

EMPLOYEES KILLED IN TRENCH CAVE-IN

Investigation abstract

EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 WERE INVOLVED IN A PROJECT TO RELOCATE A 4-INCH GAS LINE. A . JOHN DEERE 690-B BACKHOE, SERIAL #004122T, WAS BEING USED TO DIG OUT AROUND THE EXISTING GAS LINE SO IT COULD BE LOWERED TO THE PROPER DEPTH. AS DIRT WAS EXTRAC TED FROM AROUND IT, THE GAS LINE WOULD SLOWLY EASE ITS WAY TO THE BOTTOM OF THE TRENCH. JUST BEFORE THE ACCIDENT, THE GAS LINE SHIFTED TOO FAR FROM THE EDGE OF THE TRENCH, INTO A POSITION WHERE IT WAS INTERFERING WITH THE BACKHOE OPERATION. EMPLOYEES #1 AND #2 ENTERED THE TRENCH TO REPOSITION THE GAS LINE. THE TRENCH W AS APPROXIMATELY 7 FEET DEEP AND 3 TO 5 FEET WIDE. IT WAS NOT SHORED OR SLOPED. SHORTLY AFTER THEY ENTERED THE TRENCH, IT CAVED-IN ON THEM. BOTH MEN WERE KILLED

Victims (2)

  1. #1 Fatality Age 25 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    2
    Source
    12
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    13
    Task assigned
    1
  2. #2 Fatality Age 36 M

    Nature of injury
    12
    Part of body
    4
    Event type
    2
    Source
    12
    Occupation code
    999
    Human factor
    1
    Environmental factor
    13
    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.