Trenching Incident Claims a Life

We tend to hammer a lot on trenching and shoring safety, but sometimes we worry it still doesn't get enough attention. So we wanted to highlight an incident shared by OSHA that claimed the life of one worker and left another with serious injuries. Overall the company involved was fined $4.6 million.

The workers were actually not IN the trench at the time of the incident but working close by when the trench collapsed causing them to fall inside and become trapped. This incident underlines a common misconception: even if you don't have employees inside a trench, you still need to ensure the trench is not in danger of collapse using all the skills a trenching competent person would normally use: soil classification, controls implementation, and constant site inspection.

Here's the report from OSHA to read more.