A construction company has been issued $157,500 in fines over a trench collapse that killed a laborer last summer in Scripps Ranch, officials announced Thursday.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued the citations to Long Beach-based W.A. Rasic Construction for safety violations that led to the death of Joel Olea Gomez, 27, of San Marcos.
Crews had been installing a large concrete pipe as part of a water-system project at Hoyt Park Drive and Scripps Ranch Boulevard when a 17-foot-deep unshored earthen channel collapsed at about 3 a.m. Aug. 28.
Gomez was trapped under dirt and the pipe, according to the state Department of Industrial Relations and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. He died at the scene.
A second worker who was in the furrow at the time was able to avoid being buried, fire officials said. Emergency personnel shored up the trench to prevent any further collapses prior to removing Gomez’s body; the process that took more than four hours.
The violations that cumulatively led to his death, according to Cal/OSHA, were failures to:
- Implement an effective injury-and-illness prevention program to identify, evaluate and correct workplace hazards, and a lack of related training, a requirement that has been in place for more than 30 years.
- Conduct a proper inspection of the excavation site, which kept supervisors from identifying conditions that could lead to cave-in hazards, and a lack of necessary protective systems, such as trench boxes or shoring.
- Provide adequate cave-in protections, a “critical” lapse that exposed workers to the risk of fatal injury.
“No worker should lose their life due to preventable safety failures,” Cal/OSHA Chief Debra Lee said. “We will continue to enforce trench-safety regulations, hold employers accountable and work to ensure that safety standards are upheld to protect workers.”
A representative of the company did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Employers have the right to appeal any Cal/OSHA citation and notification of penalty by filing an appeal with the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board within 15 working days of being notified of punitive measures.
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