After 2022, the construction industry’s deadliest year since 2005 for trench collapses, at least 18 more workers have died in trenches, according to online safety records and media reports.
The deaths have been reported across the U.S., from Georgia to California, with the most common OSHA citation being failure to use proper cave-in protection – primarily, a trench box.
Some states had more than one fatal collapse during that time. Oklahoma and New York each had three deaths since 2022. Texas and California each had two fatalities.
(A brief description of each of the 18 fatalities is provided later in this story.)
Though deaths have continued, last year showed a steep drop in the number of fatal trench collapses in comparison to 2022, when 39 workers died in trenches.
In 2023, at least 14 workers died in trench collapses. That is more in line with 2021’s 15 deaths, as reported by OSHA.
Whether that’s a trend and 2022 was an outlier year, however, remains to be seen. Already in the first quarter of 2024, at least four workers have died in trenches. That death count could have been higher, however, if workers caught in cave-ins had not been rescued by emergency responders. Such rescues are rare because cave-ins can instantly bury workers under thousands of pounds of dirt. That makes it nearly impossible to reach them before they die by asphyxiation or being crushed.
