Abstract: At 3:15 p.m. on August 1, 2018, an employee was working with two coworkers to excavate a trench using an excavator (Caterpillar 305E CR) with a twelve inch excavator bucket along with a rotary hammer, a jack hammer and shovels to lay communication cables. At some point, coworker #1, operating the excavator, shut off the excavator to go talk with the foreman. Meanwhile, the employee, who also acted as coworker #1's spotter, entered the deepest part of the trench (ten feet long by two feet wide and four feet, eight inches deep) to hand dig under the two foot wall that sat at grade above him. Coworker #2 was in another section using a jackhammer to loosen soil and was faced away from the employee. Coworker #1 returned to the excavator and started it up and began to dig in the same spot in the trench where the employee was working. The excavator bucket struck the employee, who was hospitalized for crushing injuries that include: fractures to lumbar vertebra with spinal cord injury, fractures to left arm and leg, fractured ribs, acute head trauma, and multiple contusions.