OSHA Accident Investigation · Summary #892380
TRENCH,ABRASION,CAVE-IN,SPRAIN,CONTUSION
Event description
TWO EMPLOYEES INJURED IN A TRENCH SIDE WALL CAVE-IN
Investigation abstract
Two employees were installing 15 inch reinforced concrete pipe for a storm sewer and were working in a trench approximately 80 feet long by 4 feet wide by 7 fee t 6 inches deep. No shoring, sloping or other protection was provided. Portions of the near vertical side walls were composed of backfill and a loose shale rock . A 20 feet long by 2 feet wide by 7 feet 6 inches deep portion of one wall fail ed, pinning both workers from the waist down. The company provided no safety pro gram, no safety inspections, no daily excavation inspections, and no hazard reco gnition training. The employees believed that it was not necessary to use precau tions such as a trench box, unless the trench was over 6 feet in depth.
Victims (2)
-
#1 Hospitalized Age 25 M
- Nature of injury
- 20
- Part of body
- 19
- Event type
- 2
- Source
- 12
- Occupation code
- 599
- Human factor
- 1
- Environmental factor
- 18
- Task assigned
- 1
-
#2 Non-hospitalized injury Age 21 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.