Neglecting safety precautions may lead to trenching fatalities.
BACKGROUND
Trench collapses ranked as the seventh leading cause of the possible twenty-nine causes of OSHA-inspected fatal construction events during the period 1991-2001. This study aims to examine why these fatalities occurred.


METHODS
Forty-four case files from OSHA inspections of fatal trench collapses were reviewed.


RESULTS
Improper protection of the excavation site where work was taking place was the leading fatality cause. Several organizational or physical conditions were present at many fatal sites; the most frequent was that no training had been provided for trenching.


CONCLUSIONS
Presence of a competent, diligent person at the site would have prohibited most fatalities. The top cited violation was lack of protection, that is, benching, shoring, sloping, trench boxes, etc. (29 CFR 1926.652 (a) (1)).
Deatherage
J Harold
JH
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 37996, USA.
Furches
Lisa K
LK
Radcliffe
Mike
M
Schriver
William R
WR
Wagner
John P
JP
D000062:Accidents, Occupational / Q000401:mortality*; D020378:Confined Spaces; D006801:Humans; D016272:Occupational Health; D018570:Risk Assessment; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014489:United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration