Worker Dies in Trench Collapse

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Project) (MIFACE) ; Michigan State University. Department of Medicine. Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Description:
  On Friday, August 19, 2005, at approximately 12:00 p.m., a 24-year-old worker died when he was buried under a wall of the trench he was working in. The excavation wall and part of the sidewalk next to the concrete garage floor collapsed onto him while he was attempting to attach the new PVC pipe he and his coworkers had installed that morning to the main sewer in the alley. One of the decedent's coworkers was also caught in the collapse. Two other workers on-site, neighbors who heard their calls for help, and firefighters who arrived on the scene were able to extricate the decedent's coworker (the company owner) from the excavation. He was transported to a hospital and recovered. The decedent's body was recovered from the excavation approximately 8 hours after the wall collapsed. Recommendations: 1. Employers and self-employed contractors should slope or shore or use trench boxes in all excavations greater than 5 feet deep. 2. Employers and self-employed contractors should ensure that excavations are inspected by a competent person prior to start of work and as needed throughout a shift to look for evidence of any situation that could result in possible cave-in. 3. Employers and self-employed contractors should design, develop, and implement a comprehensive safety program that includes training in hazard recognition and avoiding unsafe conditions. 4. Emergency medical services and fire-rescue personnel should be knowledgeable about proper rescue techniques involving excavation sites and ensure that adequate shoring equipment is on hand at all times.
• Content Notes:
  Publication Date provided by FACE program
  
  not printed on the report.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Confined Spaces Construction Industry Occupational Health Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-potential Accident-prevention Confined-spaces Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 5 Safety-education Safety-measures Safety-practices Safety-programs Training Traumatic-injuries Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Confined Space ; Other
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE05MI084
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Michigan ; OSHA Region 5
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-9
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20034702
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2010-111726
• 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 05MI084, 2006 Jun ; :1-9
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2006
• Performing Organization:
  Michigan Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (Project) (MIFACE) ; Michigan State University. Department of Medicine. Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  2002/09/01
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e7f7c609728e0d62533506da1c4106053b0ab74702a0d33b047e51a5a326e0098f5564f6e2cb9829771ba168882fd03f3788b90ff6f047cd8029f796e943c92e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/166180/cdc_166180_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 911.50 KB ]