Contractor fined more than $350,000 after repeatedly exposing workers to trenching cave-in hazards

OSHA fined contractor P. Gioioso & Sons Inc. $354,000 after exposing its workers to cave-in hazards at Massachusetts work sites in Cambridge and Framingham. The company, which is primarily engaged in the construction of underground water and sewer mains, has a long history of violating workplace safety standards. Since 2000, Gioioso was cited seven times for repeat violations of OSHA's trenching and excavation safety standards prior to these most recent citations. The Cambridge inspection was opened when an OSHA inspector observed a Gioioso employee working in an unprotected trench. During the inspection, a section of the trench wall collapsed while the employee was still in the trench. The second inspection began after a concerned passer-by informed OSHA of workers in an unguarded trench. In both cases, OSHA found that the trenches lacked cave-in protection and a ladder or other safe means for workers to exit the trenches.

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OSHA intervenes in time to protect workers from trench collapse

OSHA Compliance Officer Eliseo Hernandez and Assistant Area Director Joseph Roesler were on their way to an inspection near Auburn, Ala., when they noticed an open excavation where workers were not protected from cave-ins. The excavation was approximately 5 and 1/2 feet deep where two employees were working under an excavator bucket connecting a water line. Just after Hernandez removed the employees from the hazard, the wall of the excavation collapsed. This incident demonstrates the importance of OSHA's Trenching and Excavation National Emphasis Program.


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