Construction Co. Fined $77,000 Five Months After Trench Cave-In Killed 2
Thursday, October 6, 2016 | 0
Two people died while performing excavation work in Boise this spring after a trench caved in and buried them. Another person was seriously injured.
Federal safety inspectors fined Hard Rock Construction Inc. $77,319 this week for ignoring trench safety standards.
Ernesto Saucedo-Zapata, 26, and Bert Smith Jr., 36, died May 3 in the trench collapse, the Idaho Statesman reported. It occurred around 5:30 p.m. that day. The surviving worker, whom the newspaper did not name, was pulled free around 6 p.m.
Neighbors told the newspaper that "it doesn't take much" for Boise's sandy ground to shift.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Boise-area director, David Kearns, said responsibility for the cave-in rests entirely on Hard Rock Construction. He called the deaths tragic and preventable, making them "even more tragic."
"Hard Rock Construction made almost no effort to protect its workers," Kearns said in a statement.
View citations against the company, which employs 24 people in the fields of excavation, grading and underground utility installation, here.
Comments