I wish we were at a point where I could completely eliminate this topic from future column consideration — trench collapse deaths.
Unfortunately, it continuously lurks as something worth revisiting at any given time. The Google Alerts in my email inbox still occasionally are flooded with mentions of a tragic worker death in an unsafe trench. Whenever I consider writing about it, there isn’t anything new to the message I want to convey. To quote myself from an April 2023 column, the last time I wrote on the subject:
I’m often at a loss on how to broach this subject because what new information is there to present? We know how to make trenches safe to work in. All there is to do is continue to emphasize the importance of always following those safety procedures and not becoming complacent about it. You could be lackadaisical about proper trench safety and get away with it for a long time with no problems. But all it takes is one time, with the worst-case scenario being death.
What caught my attention recently were the findings of an investigation conducted by National Public Radio-affiliated journalists. Along with various interviews, they examined hundreds of pages of OSHA inspection reports, court records, personnel files, lawsuits, police records, arrest affidavits, 911 calls, state safety reports and news releases and analyzed 10 years of OSHA workplace accident data. Here is some of the information from the report that stuck out to me:
- OSHA conducts between 1,500 and 2,000 trenching inspections annually, about 6% of all workplace inspections, including those that occur after a worker has died. OSHA has 840 compliance officers to handle all work sites in the country — more than 7 million of them.
- Of the trench collapse deaths that occurred between 2013 and 2023, about 5% of employers were criminally charged. They ultimately often received little punishment.
- Companies fined by OSHA sometimes ignored the penalties and faced no consequences, including one that still owes more than $1.4 million imposed after the deaths of two employees eight years ago.
- At least 10 of the companies that employed workers who were killed had been sanctioned previously by OSHA for failing to protect employees doing excavation/trench work. One was cited five times in four years; another four times in as many years.
- While most violations after a trench fatality were labeled “serious,” fewer than 10% were considered “willful.”
My general opinion after taking in this report is that we need to come down harder on companies involved in trench collapse deaths in a real way. Fines aren’t going to cut it apparently. Criminal prosecution needs to be on the table always.
The ideal is companies holding themselves to a high standard for trench safety 100% of the time. But whether it’s naivety or no regard for the value of human life, there are some companies out there simply not doing it. If they can’t do the right thing on their own, then you need to make them afraid of doing the wrong thing. And a real threat of criminal prosecution would do that.
If you look at trench collapse death data over the last decade it’s fairly stable. Apart from a couple spikes in 2016 and 2022, it seems to sit at about 25 for a calendar year. Nothing is changing. It’s impossible for OSHA to actively police all of the work sites out there, and all it technically has in its arsenal are citations and fines. But it could do more to refer incidents to local district attorneys to take on criminal cases. That’s maybe what needs to happen to get the bad actors out there to take trench safety seriously and get that steady 25 trench death annual statistic finally down to zero.
Enjoy this month’s issue.
