A worker from Miami County, Ohio, died in a trench collapse at a home construction site while trenching for sewer pipe. The man was found after a neighbor noticed machinery running with no operator. According to Dayton Daily News, officials quickly determined they would be recovering the man’s body rather than rescuing the worker.
Michael Guadagno, coordinator of the regional technical rescue and a battalion chief for the Washington Twp. Fire Department, told Dayton Daily News it had been “up to four hours since the last time anybody spoke to him or saw him above ground.”
The worker had been trenching for sewer pipe that was eight feet down. Citing federal records, the publication reported that the man worked for Payne Enterprises, a company that has been fined in the past for trench-related safety violations. The company paid $18,276 in fines from the citations in 2017 and 2018, a settlement amount from the initial penalties that totaled $36,552, according to the report.
