Fatality Narrative: Pipelayer Dies When Trench Wall Collapses

Details

• Corporate Authors:
  Washington (State). Department of Labor and Industries
• Description:
  In January 2016, a 36-year-old pipelayer died when the wall of the trench he was working in collapsed and buried him. The incident happened at a residential job site where the employer, the victim, and another worker were replacing a sewer line. The employer runs a small business that does sewer and drainage installation and repair work. The crew had been working at the job site for a week. There had been over three inches of rain during this time. Several trenches were dug in soil to allow workers to remove old pipes and install new pipes. The soil was unstable wet, loamy sand, classified as "Type C" soil. On the day of the incident, the crew was nearly finished with the project. The victim entered a trench to finish work on the sewer line connection to the house. The trench was 21 inches wide by 60 inches long and 7 feet deep. It was alongside a house foundation with a cement walkway on the other side. There was no protective system in the trench (though there was a hydraulic shoring cylinder near the bottom on one side). At 10:30 a.m., a wall of the trench collapsed, burying the victim. The coworker contacted emergencyservices and then attempted to dig out the collapsed trench. Fire department emergency response team personnel arrived on the scene within a few minutes. The rescue attempt soon changed to a recovery effort. The victim was declared dead at the scene. He died of compressional asphyxia. Description provided by NIOSH
• Subjects:
  • Construction Industry
  • Education
  • Hazardous Substances
  • Occupational Health
  • Personal Protective Equipment
  • Safety
  • Staff Development
  • Workplace
• Keywords:
  • Workers
  • Work environment
  • Construction
  • Trenching
  • Trenches
  • Hazards
  • Hazard controls
  • Hazard recognition
  • Training
  • Education
  More +
• Series:
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation Reports (FACE)
• Document Type:
  Text
• Funding:
  Cooperative Agreement
• Genre:
  Report
• Place as Subject:
  OSHA Region 10 ; Washington
• CIO:
  National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)
• Topic:
  Workplace Safety & Health
• Location:
  North America
• Pages in Document:
  1
• NIOSHTIC Number:
  nn:20051396
• Citation:
  Olympia, WA: Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, 71-156-2017, 2017 Mar; :1
• Federal Fiscal Year:
  2017
• Performing Organization:
  Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
• Peer Reviewed:
  False
• Start Date:
  20050701
• Source Full Name:
  Fatality narrative: pipelayer dies when trench wall collapses
• End Date:
  20260630
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/228726/cdc_228726_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 290.45 KB]
• Collection(s):
  Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Program ; National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:abb2402bacd6fe8562b0704603656a33996d0912cade1671f7b96538c178553c20b229c90df01ddd64972ad54063eea14ae6ccf22a0b19d102e6d46617abaf20