Contractor fined nearly $800K for cave-in hazards in unprotected trench

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited a Blue Springs, Missouri, contractor with 12 violations and a $796,817 fine for exposing two workers to deadly cave-in hazards as they worked in an unprotected trench weakened by water pooling in an excavation site.

In an Oct. 2021 inspection, OSHA inspectors observed two employees of Arrow Plumbing LLC installing water piping in a trench at a residential construction site and identified 12 alleged violations. The agency cited the company and owner Rick Smith for four willful violations, one repeated violation and seven serious violations of federal standards. 

Violations include two instances of willfully allowing workers to enter the trench without providing cave-in protection, allowing water to accumulate in the trench, which compromised the integrity of the excavation’s walls, and failing to keep soil piles at least 2 feet from the edge of the excavation.

The company also allowed workers to walk under suspended loads, failed to provide hardhats, used ladders improperly, failed to train workers and exposed them to struck-by hazards, OSHA said.

The citations come five years after an Arrow Plumbing employee died in a trench collapse. The company was also cited for similar violations in August 2020 after OSHA inspectors discovered an employee working in another unprotected trench in Grain Valley, Missouri.