Dive Brief:

• The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it wants to fine Chicago-based Reliable Contracting and Equipment Co. more than $48,000 for not having cave-in protection where workers were in a trench more than 5 feet deep during a May inspection.
• OSHA said it had cited Reliable for the same thing on a different Chicago job site in July 2012.
• The agency also charged there were not safe ways for workers to get in and out of the trench and that Reliable did not do daily inspections for safety problems.

Dive Insight:

OSHA has made trench safety a national priority, and this is the second announcement in a week of a contractor being fined for not having a trench protected against cave-ins. Anything 5 feet deep or more has to have something in place to keep walls from falling in and burying workers.