Worker Buried in Trench Cave In

Details

• Personal Author:
  Hetzler, William E. ; Hirsh, Gary L.
• Corporate Authors:
  Nebraska Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (Nebraska FACE) ; Nebraska. Department of Labor
• Description:
  A 56-year-old male construction worker was fatally injured in a trench cave-in. The victim had dug the approximately 12 foot deep trench and was in the trench laying a water line. The trench was neither shored nor sloped. Backfill dirt caved in on the victim burying him under three feet of dirt. The victim was dug out by co-workers and emergency response personnel and was life flighted to a local hospital where he died five days late from the injuries he sustained. The Nebraska Department of Labor (NDOL) investigator concluded that to prevent future similar occurrences, employers should: 1. Ensure each employee in an excavation is protected from cave-ins by an adequate protection system designed in accordance with 29 CFR 1926.652. 2. 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 a situation that could result in possible cave-in. 3. Instruct employees on how to recognize and avoid hazardous conditions and on regulations applicable to the work environment in accordance with 29 CFR 1926.21(b)(2). 4. Consider implementing a spot inspection program to ensure all employees are complying with safety requirements and develop and enforce consequences for noncompliance.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Construction Industry Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Construction Construction-industry Construction-workers Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 7 Personal-protective-equipment Protective-equipment Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-programs Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

  More +
• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Confined Space ; Construction
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE95NE040
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  Nebraska ; OSHA Region 7
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1-4
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027851
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2012-106691
• 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 95NE040, 1995 Aug ; :1-4
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1995
• Performing Organization:
  Nebraska Department of Labor
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1993/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:2ef195ddd54d45c6d469b1d0054abb62c280e2a72d35e0b87147334b798826fa8ece73d8d1303557b9f8ddb9ca6095c4a80a20e2a84083774a95a47d47d3adba
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/167018/cdc_167018_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 17.68 KB ]