Excavation company again exposes workers to the dangers of trench cave-ins at Middleton, Wisconsin sewer-line site

Employer name: A-1 Excavating Inc., Bloomer, Wisconsin

Inspection site: Valley Ridge Road, Middleton

Citations issued: Jan. 14, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Madison Area Office cited A-1 Excavating for one willful safety violation for not providing cave-in protection for employees installing a sewer line in a 10-foot deep trench.

Responding to a complaint on July 15, 2015, OSHA investigators found A-1 employees working in an unprotected trench on Valley Ridge Road in Middleton. The agency opened an inspection at the job site under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on trenching and excavation.

Quote: “An unprotected trench can bury a worker under thousands of pounds of soil in seconds and cause severe or fatal injuries,” said Ann Grevenkamp, OSHA’s area director in Madison. “Since 2000, OSHA has cited A-1 Excavating 15 times for violating federal trenching standards. The company knows that every trench deeper than 5 feet must have cave-in protection.”

Proposed Penalties: $69,300

Citations: View here.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s

toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Madison Area Office at (608) 441-5388.