Abstract: At 8:51 a.m. on April 17, 1992, Employee #1 had been cutting a 12 in. diameter cast iron water pipe for ten minutes in an unshored 5 ft by 7 ft by 6 1/2 ft trench, using a gasoline-powered Homelite XL98C cut-off saw. There was a 32 to 1 mixture of gasoline and oil in the tank of the cutoff saw. Employee #1, who had been wearing a dust mask, was found unconscious in the trench and was rescued by the foreman. Employee #1 refused to go to a hospital when asked by Baltimore County Paramedics. The weather was damp and foggy. The employer was involved in the construction, cleaning, and relining of cement lines and water mains covering 2,800 square ft during Phase #1 through #2 in a residential area; the job was 30 percent complete. Employee #1 had been doing this type of work for two years.