Smelly Mel’s Plumbing and Sewer Rat Plumbing face a total of $529,640 in state fines for violating safety regulations that resulted in serious injuries to a construction worker during a trench collapse in San Mateo, California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) announced February 10.

Cal/OSHA cited the two employers after finding a total of 16 violations between the two businesses. Violations cited by the state workplace safety and health agency included two willful, serious accident-related violations, concluding that the businesses were aware of the safety hazards, had prior warning, and failed to take corrective action.

On August 1, 2024, a crew was handling a sewer line project at a private residence in San Mateo when the walls of the trench collapsed, burying a worker under the debris and causing serious injuries that required hospitalization.

According to Cal/OSHA, key violations and safety lapses include violations for improper protective systems, inadequate training, and failure to inspect the trench and surrounding conditions. Violations of state standards included the following:

• Inspection failure: The employers didn’t ensure a competent person conducted daily inspections of the trench, adjacent areas, and protective systems that could have alerted them to hazardous conditions like cave-ins.
• Lack of safe exit routes: Both employers failed to provide workers with a ladder or another safe means of exiting an approximately 9-f00t, 3-inch-deep trench. 
• No adequate protective systems in trench: Neither employer provided adequate protective systems, such as shoring, shielding, sloping, or benching, in the trench to prevent its collapse.
• Failure to protect workers from falling debris: Neither employer protected its workers from excavated materials or equipment that could pose a hazard by falling or rolling into the trench.
• Foot protection: The employers failed to ensure their workers had proper foot protection, which exposed at least one worker to foot injuries when using a jackhammer.
• Insufficient emergency medical provisions: The employers didn’t have an appropriate number of trained persons at the jobsite to render first aid. 
• Permit requirements: The employers failed to notify Cal/OSHA before the start of the annual permit-required activity of constructing an excavation over 5 feet in depth. 
• Injury and illness prevention program: The employers failed to conduct a toolbox safety meeting at the jobsite with the crew for the duration of the project.

“Trench collapses remain one of the most serious hazards in construction, and employers must take all necessary steps to protect their employees,” Cal/OSHA Chief Debra Lee said in an agency statement. “These citations serve as a reminder that businesses must prioritize worker safety, especially during high-risk operations to avoid tragic accidents.”

Trench collapses are among the most serious dangers in the construction industry, according to the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Excavations can collapse in seconds, leading to serious, often fatal injuries. OSHA has an ongoing National Emphasis Program (NEP) of outreach and enforcement for trenching and excavation. In 2022, the agency announced plans for 1,000 inspections of excavation sites in response to an uptick that year in trenching and excavation fatalities.