Accident Report Detail

Accident Summary Nr: 201780509 - Two Employees Buried When Trench Collapses

Accident Summary Nr: 201780509 -- Report ID: 0935000 -- Event Date: 09/19/2002
Inspection Nr	Date Opened	SIC	NAICS	Establishment Name
305565277	09/20/2002	1623	0	R. Williams Construction Company

Abstract: At about 7:45 a.m. on September 19, 2002, Employee #1 and Employee #2 were in a trench to clean the water pipes on a pump that was used to remove ground water from the trench. R. Williams Construction was installing underground a 12-inch in diameter sewer line. The trench was about 69-feet long in Class B soil. The trench was about ten-feet deep. At the bottom, the trench was about six-feet wide. From the bottom, the north and south faces were vertical for about five-feet and then sloped at about one-horizontal to one-vertical (45-degrees to the horizontal). Trench shields or shores were not used. A broken PVC pipe protruded from the north face of the trench. Reportedly, this is where the trench face collapsed. This work was part of a $157-million Chumash Casino Project on the Santa Ynez Native American Trust Land. At the time of the accident, large trucks were moving demolition debris on a road near the trench. The trucks reportedly caused the trench walls to slough off dirt and the bottom of the trench to vibrate. Employee #1 died from a fractured skull. It took the fire department about 45-minutes to extricate Employee #2 and about six-hours to remove the Employee #1. Employee #1 died and Employee #2 was hospitalized with a fractured hip.

Keywords: FRACTURE, COLLAPSE, WORK RULES, TRENCH, SKULL, BURIED, CAVE-IN, HIP, WORK SURFACE

Accident Details
End Use		Project Type		Project Cost	Stories	Non-building Height	Fatality
Commercial building		New project or new addition		$20,000,000 and over	3	30	X

Employee Details
Employee #	Inspection Nr	Age	Sex	Degree of Injury	Nature of Injury	Occupation	Construction
1	305565277			Hospitalized injury	Fracture	Construction laborers	Distance of Fall: feet Worker Height Above Ground/Floor: feet Cause: Excavation Fatality Cause: Trench collapse
2	305565277			Fatality	Fracture	Construction laborers	Distance of Fall: feet Worker Height Above Ground/Floor: feet Cause: Excavation Fatality Cause: Trench collapse

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