2 Arizona Contractors Cited for Trench Violations; Fines Total $193K

Two Arizona contractors face penalties for separate trench violations in the same month – one for $161,000 and another for $32,000.

The largest proposed penalty was issued to DCS Contracting Inc. of Chandler for a trench collapse March 26 that seriously injured two workers, according to minutes from an Arizona Industrial Commission meeting September 5.

The collapse occurred in Queen Creek when employees were installing pipe coupling in a trench that was 5 to 7 feet deep, 3.5 feet wide and 12 feet long.

Commission Chairman Dennis Kavanaugh called it “probably the worst trenching incident during his tenure on the commission.”

The contractor could also face additional civil penalties of $25,000 for each of the injured employees if their injuries cause permanent disability. The commission voted to issue a “willful serious” violation for inadequate cave-in protection. That means the employer either “knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement” or “acted with plain indifference to employee safety,” according to the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration.

Both workers were rescued, had a fractured pelvis and required surgery, according to ABC15 news station. Citing a report from the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety & Health, the station reported that safety policies were ignored to rush to complete the work before a storm hit.

Another Contractor Fined

Also in March, a complaint was called in to ADOSH about two employees in an unprotected trench in Glendale that was 7 feet deep, 6 feet wide and 8 feet long.

The workers for Earth Tech Services LLC of Mesa were using shovels to locate a utility line, according to the commission’s September 5 minutes. The commission voted to issue four serious violations, totaling $32,265. Serious violations are “when the workplace hazard could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm, unless the employer did not know or could not have known of the violation,” according to OSHA.

The violations are as follows:

• No cave-in protection.
• No safe way to enter and exit the trench, such as a ladder.
• No one to inspect the trench before workers entered to ensure it was safe.
• Workers had not received trench safety training.

Kavanaugh noted that the workers in the trench were “lucky enough that someone made a complaint.”