OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #761304
SIMMONS PLUMBING, INC.
GREENSBORO, NC·
Event description
Employee's vertebrae fractured in trench cave-in
Investigation abstract
Employee # 1 and a coworker were installing 8 in. PVC lines at a shopping center ower back were crushed, but a full recovery is expected. that was under construction. The 16 ft deep trench was dug in soft, unstable so il. A trench box had been provided and employees had been instructed to stay ins ide the box because the trench walls above and beyond it were not adequately slo ped for the type of soil. Employee #1 walked out of the trench box to spread gra vel for placing the sewer lines. Both he and his coworker had done this several times with the knowledge of their supervisors. While he was spreading gravel, th e walls of the trench collapsed and Employee #1 was knocked to the floor of the trench. He was covered with dirt but was able to breathe. Two vertebrae in his l
Victim
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 20 M
- Nature of injury
- 12
- Part of body
- 3
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 12
- Occupation code
- 585
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 3
- Hazardous substance
- 8880
- 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.