UNITED STATES
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employee #1, a laborer, and his foreman went to their worksite, a utility manhole under a busy, 4-lane street, to clean the mud out of the manhole so that the utility company could make repairs in the manhole. When Employee #1 and his foreman first arrived on the site, the utility company personnel had already installed traffic control signs and devices. The foreman went into the manhole and shoveled mud into a bucket. When full, Employee #1, who was standing on the street, hoisted the bucket to the surface and emptied it into a large trailer. The men filled the trailer with mud, and left the site to empty the trailer. Enough mud had been removed from the manhole for the utility personnel to enter the manhole and make the necessary repairs. By the time Employee #1 and his foreman returned with the empty trailer, the utility personnel had completed their work, removed the traffic control signs and devices and left the site. Employee #1 and his foreman decided to remove the remaining mud from the manhole in case the utility personnel had to re-enter it in the near future. The manhole was in the outside lane of the street. At that time, the only traffic control was seven or eight traffic cones spaced over 100 or 120 ft of roadway. The foreman parked the truck with its trailer such that the trailer goose-neck was over the manhole opening to allow Employee #1 some space in which to work while providing some protection from the on-coming vehicles. The foreman re-entered the manhole to resume shoveling mud. The employee remained on the surface to empty the buckets as he had before. After they had been working for about an hour, a vehicle drove through the traffic cones and struck the trailer. The trailer and Employee #1 were thrown approximately 20 ft and the employee was killed.