Individual Fined Almost $4,000 for Trench Violations

An Occupational Health Officer saw a back-hoe digging a trench that wasn’t protected against cave-ins. The trench measured more than two metres deep and the walls weren’t cut back at a 45ø angle. As a result, an individual pleaded guilty to failing to ensure that a worker in a trench that was more than 1.2 metres deep was protected from cave-in or sliding material and that only trained operators were permitted to operate powered mobile equipment. He was fined nearly $4,000 [Nick Tuchscherer, Govt. News Release, Jan. 15, 2014].