Contractor Faces $1.2M Fine for Repeat Violations After Fatal Trench Collapse

A Connecticut contractor faces proposed fines of $1.2 million after an inspection revealed repeat violations two years after one of its workers died in a trench collapse, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

In all, concrete and earthworks contractor Sound Construction Inc. of Easton was cited with 11 violations last month after workers were found in June in a 10-foot-deep trench with inadequate cave-in protection and multiple other hazards in Stamford.

Previous Death

An employee of Sound Construction was crushed to death by a trench collapse in December 2023 in New Canaan. The company was initally fined $394,083 after that incident.

The contractor reached a settlement with OSHA for a reduced fine of $60,000 for the 2023 violations. The owner also agreed to submit monthly lists of active worksites and allow OSHA to randomly inspect them, the agency says.

OSHA reported at the time of that fine’s issuance that the company had trench safety violations dating back to 2016.

Repeat Violations

During OSHA follow-up inspections per the settlement agreement, the agency reports the following conditions:

• On June 12, an excavator was being operated with one of the tracks positioned on the trench edge and with no restraint to keep it from falling or rolling in. A worker was also beneath the excavator in the trench and was exposed to cave-in and crushing hazards.
• On June 13, the company president operated an excavator on the edge of the trench above the foreman and a laborer. They were in unprotected areas and within a trench box installed improperly four feet below the surface, and it had not been backfilled to prevent hazardous movement.
• The trench box was 6 feet tall and sitting at the bottom of the 10-foot-deep trench, when its top is supposed to be at least flush with the excavation surface.
• On both days, the excavator added extra surcharge load on the trench walls above the workers, creating further cave-in hazards.
• Employees were also exposed to cave-in hazards June 13 when the company did not use a four-sided trench shield. “The employees were also exposed to cave-in hazards when they were standing on the escape ladder or the shield components, which placed them between the top of the excavation walls and the top of the trench shield walls,” the citation says.
• On June 12, the 8-foot ladder being used by employees to enter and exit the trench did not extend at least 3 feet above the excavation surface.
• On June 13, a 24-foot-long extension ladder was used, but employees were facing away from the ladder while descending and not grasping the ladder with at least one hand, exposing them to fall and struck-by hazards.
• Daily inspections of the safety of the trench had not been conducted before workers entered. The workers also did not receive safety training on the hazards of trenching.

In all, the proposed penalties total $1,224,798. Sound Construction has 15 days to file an appeal.