Two Companies Fined $75,000 for Trench Collapse

An installer of sewer and water mains hired an engineering company to do testing at a site. A worker for that company entered a trench to perform a test. Because the trench wasn’t shored, the soil collapsed, trapping and injuring the worker. The installer was convicted at trial of failing, as a constructor, to ensure that the trench was shored and was fined $55,000. The engineering company pleaded guilty, as an employer, to not providing instruction to the worker about how to notify a supervisor that a trench wasn’t safe to enter. The court fined it $20,000 [SMRS Construction and Terraprobe Inc., Govt. News Release, June 24, 2013].