The United States Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited a Missouri Plumbing Contractor who admitted to violating trench safety requirements. An employee was killed when an unprotected trench collapsed on him at work.

Arrow Plumbing, LLC admitted that they failed to require and enforce the use of trench boxes and other trench protection techniques at a home construction site in Belton, Missouri. This is where the employee was killed. The company and their successor company R2 Plumbing LLC will implement several safety enhancements- such as hiring a safety consultant to design and implement a trench safety program, conducting safety and health audits, providing extensive training for employees, reporting trench related incidents and near misses to OSHA, conducting meetings at new worksites to address hazards and completing OSHA construction, trenching and excavation training courses. They will also pay a penalty of $225,000.

“Trenching and excavation work can be extremely dangerous,” said OSHA Acting Regional Administrator Bonita Winingham. “This settlement serves as a commitment by the employer to abate the identified workplace hazards and implement additional safety measures to make their workplaces safer. The employer has also committed to ensuring continuous compliance with OSHA safety standards to prevent tragedies such as trench collapses from recurring.”

This agreement resolves similar violations from a January 2017 inspection spurred by a December 2016 trench fatality. Inspectors found workers in unprotected trenches.

Read the news release from OSHA here.