100% of the details are not out yet as this just happened a few hours ago but this is very local to where I work daily and serves as an unfortunate reminder that a trench is no place to shortcut safety. What we are being told right now is a 22 year old man was in an 8ft trench installing a water pipe for a new car wash when the trench walls caved in. They were not able to rescue him in time, and unfortunately, he has lost his life. Won’t happen to you, until it does. Construction worker dies after trench collapses in Noblesville NOBLESVILLE, Ind. — A construction worker is dead after emergency crews rushed to a recently opened Crew Carwash in Noblesville on Monday morning on reports of a worker trapped due to a trench coll… fox59.com
I think the point that sails over a lot of people's heads is there is no such thing as "in time". If you're at the bottom of an 8-ft trench that caves in with no shoring, You're done. It's just a recovery effort at that point. The pressures are tremendous. If you're buried up above your belt for any length of time you will suffocate. Your diaphragm needs to move and that soil will inhibit your diaphragm at that level.
This **** makes me so angry. There is ZERO excuse for this to happen yet I see it from time to time on the small commercial jobs we do - plumber running the sewer lateral 8-10' deep with a 24" bucket with no shoring and not a care in the world oblivious to the dangers they are working in. RIP. What a senseless way to loose one's life.
Such a young man too. I didn’t know him but he had parents no doubt, possibly a young family of his own. Very sad and incredibly senseless. This kind of thing should never happen today.
youv'e all seen my shoring pictures, and I know that some people are saying behind their keyboard " I woulda benched that" Or "that's not that deep" I post them in the hopes that people will take it to heart and do what the law requires. Here's what I hope people take away. My guys are safe, the dirt is not sliding down into the glue and they have stable workplace where they can put their head down there and check stuff. It is one thing to say a 5' trench is safe, but put your head down there and re-think that. It does not slide in on you when you are standing up. The worksite is the bottom of the trench.