Laborer dies in trench cave-in in California

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  California Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Program (CA/FACE) ; California. Department of Health Services
• Description:
  A 27-year-old male laborer (victim) died after being trapped in soil over his head as a result of a trench that caved-in. The victim was digging out the bottom of the trench in order to expose an existing drainpipe. On one side of the trench was a retaining wall and the other side was a dirt wall which was part of a hillside. He and another laborer were piling the dirt on the hillside above the east wall of the trench. Later the other laborer pulled up buckets filled by the decedent with the spoils placing them on the hillside above the trench wall as well as on the south side of the excavation. The trench wall that collapsed was not shored or otherwise protected from earth movement. The soil had been previously disturbed in the area of the trench. There was no competent person to check the soil and excavation at the site and no initial hazard assessment was performed. The victim received no training from the company for whom he worked. The CA/FACE investigator concluded that, in order to prevent future occurrences, employers should: 1. Assure that the sides of all excavations are shored, laid back to a stable slope, or provided with other equivalent protection where employees may be exposed to moving ground or cave-ins. 2. Have a competent person frequently inspect excavations in which the soil was previously disturbed, or where there is loading due to stored materials. 3. Train employees, including periodic refresher training, to be aware of and understand the hazards of the job. 4. Perform an initial hazard assessment of the job prior to beginning work and when there is a situation change that presents different hazards.
• Subjects:
  Accident Prevention Accidents Accidents, Occupational Occupational Health Personal Protective Equipment Safety Safety Management Staff Development Workplace
• Keywords:
  Accident-analysis Accident-prevention Injuries Injury-prevention OSHA Region 9 Protective-equipment Protective-measures Safety-education Safety-equipment Safety-measures Safety-monitoring Safety-personnel Training Traumatic-injuries Work-analysis Work-areas Work-operations Work-performance Work-practices

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• FACE - NIOSH and State:
  FACE ; Confined Space ; Construction ; Hispanic - Construction ; Foreign Born Workers
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Subseries:
  State
• DOI:
  https://doi.org/10.26616/NIOSHSFACE96CA007
• Publisher:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Field Study
• Place as Subject:
  California ; OSHA Region 9
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  8 pdf pages
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20027089
• NTIS Accession Number:
  PB2007-112032
• 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 96CA007, 1996 Oct ; :1-8
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  1997
• Performing Organization:
  California Department of Health Services
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• NAICS and SIC Codes:
  23 - Construction - (NAICS)
• Start Date:
  1991/09/30
• End Date:
  2006/08/31
• Collection(s):
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:a82628152ce428f547cac1f6ade96d890bb8b13833f67274acdfa2e6b0b93fefb8d737e5eb3e791bd28ebc5f10766d684c2463e8c0daf1a552aa22c0e2dceb1e
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/169006/cdc_169006_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 20.55 KB ]