Abstract: At approximately 9:00 a.m. on May 21, 2007, Employee #1, a laborer, and a coworker were trenching a sewer and water line into a residential building lot. The trench was approx 8.5 ft deep and 38 ft long. The width at the bottom of the trench was approximately 3 ft. The trench walls were sloped out at the top, the southern portion approximately 8 ft and the northern portion approximately 5 ft. The soil was a clay-sand mixture and water was seeping from the west trench wall. The coworker was operating an excavator and conducted only a visual analysis of the soil. Employee #1 was in the trench installing pipe. As Employee #1 was unrolling the water line in the trench, the west trench wall collapsed, striking and burying him up to his waist. Employee #1 was able to extricate himself. He was hospitalized with a broken clavicle, bruised pancreas, and an approximately 3-in. tear in his liver.