19-Year-Old Construction Laborer Crushed in Trench Collapse While Laying Sewage Pipe

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Kentucky Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (KY FACE) ; University of Kentucky. College of Public Health. Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center
• Description:
  On Thursday, June 11, 2015, a 19-year-old construction laborer (the victim), a construction foreman, and three other construction laborers were in a parking lot laying sewage pipe in a trench. The trench measured a depth of 12 feet 2 inches and covered an area of 5 feet by 48 feet. A trench box measuring 8 feet deep and covering an area of 2 feet 1 inch by 16 feet had been placed into the trench. The trench box walls were 4 feet 2 inches too short and left the construction laborers vulnerable to a large section of the spoil pile and concrete above. The two construction laborers were laying sewage pipe in the trench for approximately 6 hours when an above section of the spoil pile and concrete gave way, dumping the majority of the spoil pile into the trench, burying the victim and trapping the other construction laborer from the waist down. Three construction laborers outside the trench witnessed the incident and immediately contacted Emergency Medical Services at 2:22 pm. While waiting for the EMS to arrive, a worker climbed into the trench and began clearing the debris in an attempt to free the construction laborers. EMS and a special trench rescue team arrived at the scene within eight minutes, at 2:30 pm, to begin the rescue and recovery process. The trapped second construction laborer was alert, calm, and responsive throughout the extraction process, while the victim showed no signs of verbal responsiveness and was entirely covered by debris. The trapped second construction laborer was extracted after four and a half hours and transported to a local hospital for treatment, while the victim required two additional hours of extraction and was pronounced dead at the scene. Recommendations for prevention: 1. Trench boxes used in excavation projects should have a wall height greater than or equal to the wall height of the surrounding trench. 2. Pre-job site hazard analysis should be performed before work commences. 3. Employers should ensure a trained, competent person is on the jobsite prior to starting work and that they receive regular refresher training in order to maintain competent person status. 4. Employers should ensure all employees receive proper trench safety training.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Body Height Construction Industry Construction Materials Mortality Occupational Health Safety Staff Development
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Author Keywords: Trench Work Construction Construction Equipment Construction Materials Construction Workers Equipment Design Equipment Operation Equipment Operators Equipment Reliability Excavating Excavation Equipment Excavations Fatalities Height Factors Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 4 Training Traumatic-injuries Trench Collapse Trenching

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Machine (All) ; Machine - Manufacturing ; Trenching
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE15KY031
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Kentucky ; OSHA Region 4
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20049107
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2017-101404
• Citation:
  Morgantown, WV: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, FACE 15KY031, 2016 May ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2016
• Performing Organization:
  University of Kentucky
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  31-33 - Manufacturing - (NAICS) ; 23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2005/07/01
• End Date:
  2026/06/30
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:0dcb0269cb1ed78958de1925e30d3a59128e7e37df58b2962bcfcdead9a20362e307fd11b7024d2c2dc01999511b45c8a276f1f337de94381a108ccac214109b
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/165013/cdc_165013_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 690.25 KB ]