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 #657783

EXCAVATION,SAND,SUFFOCATED,CONSTRUCTION,SHORING,SLOPING,BURIED,CAVE-IN

Event
EXCAVATION,SAND,SUFFOCATED,CONSTRUCTION,SHORING,SLOPING,BURIED,CAVE-IN
Linked inspection
No inspection record linked to this accident's victims.
Summary number
657783
Report ID
111400

Event description

EMPLOYEE KILLED IN EXCAVATION CAVE-IN

Investigation abstract

AT 3:10 PM ON OCTOBER 25, 1988, EMPLOYEE #1 (THE COMPANY OWNER) WAS INSTALLING A BEEHIVE TANK IN A SEPTIC SYSTEM. AS HE WAS REMOVING A CHAIN FROM THE BOX, THE S ANDY SIDES OF THE EXCAVATION CAVED IN ON HIM. HE WAS BURIED UNDER ABOUT 4 FEET O F SAND. THE EXCAVATION WAS ABOUT 30 FEET WIDE AND 20 FEET DEEP.

Victim

  1. #1 Fatality Age 38 M

    Nature of injury
    2
    Part of body
    28
    Event type
    12
    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.