A construction worker was killed earlier this week in New York City when he was buried in a soil collapse.
According to DNAinfo New York, the unidentified worker was working a jobsite in the city’s Meatpacking District where crews are excavating the former site of a restaurant for the construction of a Restoration Hardware.
The site reports the young worker was part of a crew installing a wooden support to shore up the building’s facade. Workers had dug below the building’s foundation and, according to the New York Post, the victim was in the hole when the soil gave way and buried him.
DNAinfo reports co-workers were able to dig the man out. He was unconscious and not breathing when rescue workers arrived and rushed to the hospital where he was later pronounced dead.
The city’s Department of Buildings is investigating the incident.
You can find tips on protecting yourself and your crews from soil collapses and cave-ins in the trenching section of our Safety Watch page.
