Dive Brief:
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Idaho contractor Hard Rock Construction has filed a formal protest with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration over the agency's findings around a fatal trench collapse involving the company's employees, the Idaho Statesman reported.
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Hard Rock workers Bert Smith Jr. and Ernesto Saucedo were killed in the May 2016 accident, and OSHA's report on the incident said that lack of training and employee protection were contributing factors. According to Dave Kearns, head of the local OSHA office, a third employee was injured in the accident and is likely permanently disabled.
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If Hard Rock and OSHA cannot come to an agreement over what caused the accident, as well as the $77,319 fine, the agency's review commission will appoint a judge to resolve the conflict. Kearns previously told the Statesman that OSHA has a photograph of the workers in the unprotected trench before the accident with a company owner standing by.
Dive Insight:
Trench cave-ins are the most dangerous of all excavation-related accidents, according to OSHA, and one cubic yard of dirt can weigh the same as a car. The Hard Rock trench, estimated to be between 9 and 11 feet deep, would have required a protective system, daily inspections by a "competent person," and with access and egress ladders, steps or ramps no more than 25 feet away from work areas.
Since the potential for injury is great, OSHA considers excavation and trench safety a priority. In one of the agency's most recent actions, it fined Massachusetts contractor E.T. & L. Corp $119,597 and cited the company with one willful and three serious safety violations when investigators found employees working in an unsatisfactorily protected 12-foot-deep trench. OSHA said E.T. & L. did not follow manufacturers' instructions for trench protective systems.
In another September incident, OSHA issued safety violations and a total fine of $121,343 to two Texas contractors for not using adequate trench protection on a project in Austin, TX. The agency also fined the two for not securing power lines, leaving loose soil in the trench and failure to provide guardrails or walkways over the trench.