“A worker at a storage center in Brooklyn Park became buried in a trench he was digging Wednesday morning and died, authorities said.
The incident occurred about 9:15 a.m. at Public Storage, in the 8100 block of Lakeland Avenue N., said police inspector Todd Milburn.
The man, working for a private contractor, was digging the trench for a foundation at one of the facility's numerous buildings, when the "ground collapsed and buried him," the inspector said.
Efforts by police and fire personnel to revive the man failed, Milburn said.
The identity of the man, who was buried in soil up to his shoulders, has yet to be released.
State workplace safety investigators are trying to determine why the trench collapsed, Milburn said.”
And once more – a life lost in a trench excavation. What is wrong with us? Why can’t we make people work safely in trenches and applying their safety knowledge and following safety rules and regulations. The hazards of trenching -- and how to prevent trenching casualties -- were well known even before OSHA issued its standard -- like somewhere around 2300 years before OSHA. Just ask Heroditus:
All the other nations, therefore, except the Phoenicians, had double labor; for the sides of the trench fell in continually, as could not but happen, since they made the width no greater at the top than it was required to be at the bottom. But the Phoenicians showed in this the skill which they are wont to exhibit in all their undertakings. For in the portion of the work which was allotted to them they began by making the trench at the top twice as wide as the prescribed measure, and then as they dug downwards approached the sides nearer and nearer together, so that when they reached the bottom their part of the work was of the same width as the rest.
-- The Histories of Herodotus, The Persian Wars, Book 7 Polymnia, c. 484-425 BC
Not even knowing anything specific about this incident, I bet that the trench was neither sloped nor a trenchbox used, that the spoil pile was too close to the edge, that there might have been vibrations and resulting cracks and fissures (traffic, heavy equipment), and – looking at the last amount of rainfall, there could have been water in the trench and the soil soaked with water. Where was the competent person? Was there a competent person?
These preventable accidents make me sad and angry. It is not as if this is a brandnew issue and we have never dealt with this before. What can we do to drive excavation safety even more? I know, there are many companies out there, doing the right things and who knows how many lives have been protected and saved because of that. But what about the others that never seem to learn and always think it can only happen to another contractor, another person, people in another town?
This victim had dreams and plan, maybe wanted to go to a ballgame this upcoming weekend, take his family on a trip to Disneyland. Dreams and plans crushed by thousands of pounds of sand and dirt. Here is now another family without a husband and a father or brother. Here is now another family who will be heartbroken and who have to deal with this loss for the rest of their lives. Do you feel their pain? Do you see their tears? Do you see that little boy who may not play catch with his dad/granddad anymore. And if you feel and see, then let's figure out what else we can do in the future to avoid accidents like this.
Meike Patten, MPSafetyTraining
