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A contracting company faces $159,600 in OSHA fines following the death of one employee and the hospitalization of another.

Ray Blackmon, an employee of L & K Contracting of Dothan, AL, was killed after wet, heavy soil collapsed into a deep trench while he and another worker were installing sewer pipe. Blackmon, 48, suffered 16 broken ribs.

OSHA issued:

• a willful citation for the company’s failure to take adequate action to protect workers from soil that fell into the excavation
• a willful citation for failure to protect workers from hazards associated with water accumulation in an excavation
• a willful citation for failure to ensure workers wore appropriate personal protective equipment while in the trench
• a serious citation for allowing employees to work inside a trench approximately 10 feet deep without a safe means of exit, and
• an other-than-serious citation for failing to report the fatality to OSHA within the required eight-hour time period.

OSHA standards require trenches five feet or deeper to be protected against collapse.

Tags: excavation, personal protective equipment, trench collapse