Colorado Company Fined $31K for Fatal Trench Collapse
FORT COLLINS, Colo. (AP) — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined an excavation company for the deaths of two Colorado workers who were trapped for hours in a collapsed trench.
The Fort Collins Coloradoan reported Friday that Firestone-based Backhoe Excavating was fined $31,446 for five citations. The largest fine was more than $13,000 for failing to provide an adequate protective system for the workers, 26-year-old Cristopher Ramirez, of Boulder, and 41-year-old Jorge Valadez, of Denver.
The company also received two citations totaling more than $10,000 for not following specific excavation requirements.
The workers were installing sewer pipe in a 15-foot-deep (4.5-meter-deep) trench in Windsor on April 16 when it gave way. They were dead when emergency crews reached them.
Crews had used a PVC pipe to communicate with one of the men during the rescue effort.
From Archive
- HDD industry faces challenges as cities push back on fiber drilling disruptions
- Construction underway for $1.4 billion, 60-mile water pipeline in Chicago
- Worker dies after trench collapse at sewer project site in Norwich, Conn.
- Most new U.S. gas pipelines set to serve LNG exports, report says
- Azuria Water Solutions acquires BLD Services to expand pipeline rehab capabilities
- Gehl and Mustang offer world’s largest skid loader
- Authorities investigating trench collapse that killed worker in Ashburn, Va.
- New products: Latest industry developments
- 31 workers rescued after LA tunnel partially collapses
- Ohio Supreme Court rules sewer line location isn’t a ‘defect’ in property dispute
Comments