When rescue personnel arrived at a trench collapse on April 16, they found three workers trying to save a coworker who was stuck in mud and under water.
After a seven-hour operation involving 60 rescue personnel, the body of 50-year-old Luis M. Cortes-Correa was recovered.
His employer, Dunaway Excavating Inc. of Strasburg, Colorado, now faces $203,628 in proposed penalties for four violations, including not providing workers with cave-in protection and protection from accumulating water, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The workers were connecting a sewer pipe between the main line and a home under construction in Johnstown, Colorado. The area has a high water table because of the nearby Big Thompson River. They were using a pump of some type at the bottom of the trench, so they could see the sewer main, according to the Loveland Fire Rescue Authority.
The trench was 16 feet deep, and 19 feet wide at the top. It narrowed to 11 feet at the bottom and had 2 feet of water in it, OSHA reported.
As water continued to flow into the bottom of the trench, the walls partially collapsed from the bottom. Water rushed in and covered a worker who also became trapped in the collapsed mud, the rescue authority said.
After they arrived, rescuers ordered the three construction workers out of the trench for fear of further collapse. The operation soon turned from rescue to recovery “due to the continued collapse threat and constant groundwater flow,” the rescue agency said.
