A plumbing contractor in Birmingham, AL, has been cited by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for ignoring safety issues and allowing their employees to work in hazardous conditions that may have led to injuries.

Stephens Plumbing Inc. violated five of OSHA’s safety standards, and received one willful and four serious violations as a result. OSHA visited the employee when an inspector saw workers in a trench that was not adequately protected from cave-in hazards. The inspector was there as part of an ongoing National Emphasis Program to reduce trenching and excavation hazards.

They received a serious violation for failing to train employees in recognizing and avoiding cave-in hazards, and another serious violation for failing to give employees a safe exit out of a deep trench if they were working in one. They received a serious violation for allowing workers in trenches which had accumulated water, and one for failing to protect them from struck-by hazards from items that could potentially fall or roll into the trench while employees were working in it. They also received a willful violation for failing to protect employees from cave-in hazards with the required protective systems and for keeping the angle of the trench’s sides at too steep of a slope. The willful violation carries a fine of $35,000. In all their suggested fines total $43,800. Trenches deeper than five feet need to be protected against cave-ins, either by supporting the side walls or sloping the sides at a low enough angle.

OSHA said that the employee knew their worksite was not safe but told employees that “the job needed to get done” and did not address safety issues before allowing workers to be in a potentially unsafe trench. There are too many stories about workers who are killed or injured because they were stuck in a trench collapse, and unfortunately many sites still do not take the proper safety measures to prevent these accidents. Hopefully the OSHA emphasis program will help convince employers to start making the right safety choices to protect workers.