OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #892232
KNEE,ASPHYXIATED,COLLAPSE,TRENCH,TRENCH DIGGER,CONCRETE,CONTUSION
Event description
TRENCH COLLAPSES KILLING ONE EMPLOYEE
Investigation abstract
Employee #1 and Employee #2 were installing components of a waterproofing system little if any trench excavation hazard recognition training, company had a full time safety officer and a written safety program with only 47 words concerning trench safety. in a trench 54 ft long by 8 ft wide by 10 ft deep formed by concrete and dirt w alls. A portion of the dirt wall (630 cubic ft) collapsed, which completely buri ed Employee #1 and buried Employee #2 up to his knees. Employee #1 died due to a sphyxiation and Employee #2 received minor injuries. Company officials felt the trench was safe due to its width. Causal factors: water in trench bottom, which allowed undermining of toe; previous excavation adjacent to collapse site; vibra tions from a loader; several feet of gravel and backfill added to the top of tre nch on that day. Inadequate ladder access; employees wearing protective helmets;
Victims (2)
-
#1 Fatality Age 26 M
- Nature of injury
- 2
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 1
- Source
- 12
- Occupation code
- 599
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 45 M
- Nature of injury
- 3
- Part of body
- 16
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 12
- Occupation code
- 599
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- 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.