Abstract: Employee #1 was working alone in an approximately 12 ft long by 3 ft wide by 8 ft deep hand-dug trench that ran alongside the basement foundation of a house. At 9:30 a.m., the homeowner saw him preparing to install a 4 in. diameter drain pipe at the footing. At approximately 11:30 a.m., the homeowner discovered that the trench had caved-in from the corner of the house. Rescue personnel were called and recovered Employee #1's body in approximately 50 minutes. He died of suffocation. The trench was neither sloped nor shored. Employee #1 was regularly employed as a mason and had been doing masonry work on the house from an insurance claim.