The Occupational Safety and Health Administration proposed roughly $40,000 in penalties against a South Dakota excavating contractor after a worker was severely injured in a partial trench collapse.
The 40-year-old equipment operator was installing sewer lines in Brandon, South Dakota, in late October when a large amount of dirt fell onto him while he was working in a 16-foot trench.
He had been working in a trench box, a structure generally made of steel or aluminum that secures a trench, but that didn't protect him from the falling dirt.
OSHA officials visited the work site and ...
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