An operator died when a trench wall caved in and the dirt fully engulfed and suffocated him. At the time of this incident, there were four employees at the site. The MOL inspector was made aware of the incident through a newspaper a week after the incident. Afterwards, the company safety director was interviewed. No other employees were available, and no photographs or measurements could be taken since the trench had been covered prior to the investigation. The company has been in construction business for over thirty years. The safety program in the company has a designated safety director, safe work procedures, specific to the various tasks employees must perform and training is generally provided. The victim had been working for the company for a year. The employer was in the process of installing service connections for a construction area. Two excavations were made, one at each end. In this case one trench was excavated approximately 18ft deep. A trench box coupled with steel plates was used to provide protection and the steels plates were placed vertically along the trench walls. This method provided shoring protection for 16 ft in both length and height. The other 5 ft section trench on the other end was not shored since that area was not considered a work area, no workers were expected to be in this area. Also, there was also existing gas line exposed out 2 ft from the opposite end wall. A backhoe was used to lift the machine in and out of the trench. On the day of incident, the victim left the protection of the trench box and entered the area that lacked shoring. On previous jobs, the victim had been admonished by her supervisor for stepping outside the protection of the trench box. The moment before the initial cave-in, the competent person left the area and walked down to the other trench opening which was 200 ft away. While the victim was in the unprotected area, a sidewall suddenly caved in and the victim was covered by dirt/sand.

a) What practices of a proper trenching operation were NOT followed? ANS:

b) How did the employee in the trench contribute to this accident and what the safety supervisors have done wrong in this case? ANS: