Workplace Carnage: Two More Killed in Maryland Trench Collapse

Two Maryland workers were crushed to death in a trench collapse in Catonsville on Friday morning. 24-year-old Emerson Amestica and 32-year-old Wilmer Barzallo were the fifth and sixth workers killed in trenches in the first two months of 2025.

On February 17,  Anthony Marquet Hollowman, 53, was killed  in a trench collapse in Newberry, South Carolina. On February 12, a 34 year old pipefitter was buried alive while installing underground pipes at the Jellystone Campground in Sanilac County, Michigan.  On February 5, a Houston construction worker died when an 8-foot trench collapsed at a southwest Houston Apartment Complex.  And on January 3, a worker died in a trench collapse at a gravel pit in Hutchinson, Texas.

Meanwhile two extremely lucky Wyandotte, Michigan workers were rescued alive last week when part of a 15-20 foot deep trench collapsed.

Is this sudden rash of trench fatalities a coincidence, or are employers getting the message that there’s a new sheriff in town. And the new sheriff doesn’t really care that much about workers lives?

Is this sudden rash of trench fatalities a coincidence, or are employers getting the message that there’s a new sheriff in town. And the new sheriff doesn’t really care that much about workers lives?

Let me be clear here:  There is no excuse for anyone to ever die in a trench collapse. None. While I was at OSHA, I advocated for automatic willful violations for trench collapse deaths. The lawyers told me that was illegal, and for those born yesterday, those were the days when actions of the federal government were decided by law, and not the desires of its leaders. (even if those desires made perfect sense.)

Why was I so adamant about trench collapses?

The dangers of trenches have been known for literally thousands of years. Trench collapses are not mysterious occurrences or freak accidents. And I find it very hard to believe that there are any construction company owners in the United States that don’t know about the dangers of unsupported trenches.

Why Are Trenches Dangerous

Every kid who’s ever gone to the beach and tried to dig a hole to China, knows that deep holes tend to collapse.  It’s the same with soil. And being covered under several feet of soil is not something you can just dig yourself out of. A cubic meter of soil can weigh 3,000 pounds — the weight of a small car. Even if the worker survives being crushed to death in the initial collapse, the survival time in a collapsed trench can be as little as a minute if there are no air pockets.

And how to prevent trench collapses is not exactly a secret formula.

OSHA has had a trenching and excavation standard for over 40 years that sets out required measures for employers to take to prevent trench collapses.

And determining whether a trench is dangerous is pretty simple. Any trench over 5 feet deep has to be protected — through shoring, sloping or, most commonly, a trench box, and soil and other materials kept at least 2 feet from the edge of a trench. There are other requirements, like a feasible means (like ladders)  for workers to quickly exit a trench. One news report estimated that the trench that killed Amestica and Barzallo was only 6 feet deep.

So, workers: what this means is that any trench over a workers head is deadly.  Don’t go down unless it’s protected. True, you may be fired. But it’s better than being killed and leaving your family behind.

Workers:  any trench over a workers head is deadly.  Don’t go down unless it’s protected. True, you may be fired. But it’s better than being killed and leaving your family behind.

There’s plenty of information on the OSHA webpage, including a safety video.. You can also go to the Building Trades’ CPWR for a number of resources. Or, you can also try doing a search for “trench safety” on the Google: you’ll get about 46 million hits in less than half a second.

What Is To Be Done?

It’s not hard to find information on how to prevent trench collapses. What’s hard is getting employers to protect workers by complying with the law.

According to OSHA, 40 workers were killed in trench collapses in 2022 and 19 trenching deaths in 2023. So far this year, we’re on course to meet or exceed 2022’s record number.  And that’s before any cuts to OSHA’s staff or budget that Trump or Elon or the Republican Congress are contemplating.

We Need a Larger OSHA

OSHA is an extremely underfunded agency with an enormous mission: the safety and health of 158 million workers at more than 10.9 million workplaces.

If OSHA were to inspect every workplace in the country just once, it would take 185 years. With that kind of staffing, it’s impossible for the agency to track down every small construction project in the country.

OSHA is an extremely underfunded agency with an enormous mission: the safety and health of 158 million workers at more than 10.9 million workplaces.

During his confirmation hearing last week, Labor Department Deputy Secretary nominee Keith Sonderling committed to work with Congress and the White House to ensure that every DOL agency has the resources they need.  If he was honest, we’d be looking forward to seeing him up on Capitol Hill arguing for major increases in OSHA’s budget. But that’s a big “if” these days

The budget for the rest of FY 2025 is due on March 14. The FY 2026 budget must be finished by September 30.  OSHA is likely to face severe budget cuts from Republican lawmakers, instead of the substantial increase that workers in this country need. Call your Senators and Congresspersons and demand that the vote to increase OSHA’s budget. And watch this space for updates on budget negotiations.

We Need Stronger OSHA Enforcement

OSHA issued a National Emphasis Program (NEP) to prevent trenching deaths in 2018 (yes, during Trump I). When the epidemic of trench deaths became evident in mid-2022, OSHA renewed and recommitted its focus compliance assistance and enforcement resources on trench safety.  The following year, the number of trench collapses was cut in half. Still far too high, but it was progress.  Question: Will the Trump administration continue the NEP?

OSHA Needs Higher Penalties

OSHA penalties are too low to impact the behavior of all but the smallest of companies, and as a recent Washington Post article showed, OSHA doesn’t have the authority to shut down even the worst companies that kill workers.

Although OSHA’s maximum penalties are set by law, the agency has discretion over how high individual penalties are, how many violations will be cited, and whether penalties will be “serious” or “willful,” which carry much higher penalties. A willful violation occurs when an employer intentionally disregards or shows indifference to Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements or employee safety.

In FY 2023, the average penalty for a serious violation was $4,597 for federal OSHA and only $2,406 for OSHA state plans.

For a serious violation of an OSHA standard (one capable of causing death or serious physical harm), the maximum penalty is $16,550. For a “willful” violation, the maximum penalty is 165,550, but willful violations are rare. And actual penalties for serious violations are generally much lower than the maximum. In FY 2023, the average penalty for a serious violation was $4,597 for federal OSHA and only $2,406 for OSHA state plans.

And don’t cry for small employers who might be seriously impacted by OSHA penalties. Every state has a federally funded Onsite Consultation Program that proves no-cost, confidential consultations to help employers identify and address hazards and establish or improve safety and health programs.

But if we are to seriously tackle trench collapses, OSHA needs to issue more willful violations.  Will the Trump administration use aggressive enforcement and high penalties to address the problem effectively? Color me skeptical, but I’d love to be proven wrong.

Criminal Prosecutions for Trench Collapses

OSHA is far too small, and OSHA penalties are far too low.  But there is another tool: Nothing focuses the minds of employers who cut corners on workplace safety than the prospect of spending time in jail.

OSHA’s hands are tied when it comes to criminal prosecutions.  The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHAct) only allows a criminal prosecution when there has been a willful violation related to a workplace fatality. Those cases are almost always referred to the Justice Department which then must decide whether to prosecute. Because the OSHAct makes a criminal prosecution a misdemeanor instead of a felony, DOJ is often reluctant to put the resources into prosecuting such cases.

OSHA is far too small, and OSHA penalties are far too low.  But nothing focuses the minds of employers who cut corners on workplace safety than the prospect of spending time in jail.

And these days, DOJ has far better things to do — like going after former Biden administration officials and never-Trumpers.

But local prosecutors have no such restrictions. They can use homicide and manslaughter laws to pursue criminal prosecutions for worker fatalities. One thing OSHA can do is to work more closely with local prosecutors to pursue these cases.

Rena Steinzor recently wrote about a trenching death prosecution in Travis County, Texas. Last November, Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza filed one of the country’s handful of criminal cases motivated by a typically hideous death in a trench. A grand jury charged D Guerra Construction LLC and Carlos Gerrero, the supervisor at the site, with criminally negligent homicide in the death of Juan Galvan Batalla, 24.  Gerrero had been sent back down an unprotected trench after he had escaped a collapse in the same trench earlier in the day.

In 2022,  the King County Prosecutor’s Office in Washington charged construction company owner Phillip Numrich with felony second-degree manslaughter and violation of labor safety regulation for alleged negligence that caused the 2016 death of 36-year-old Harold Felton. Felton was crushed to death under more than 6,000 pounds of dirt when a 10-foot deep trench caved in on top of him at a West Seattle home.

(Unfortunately, instead of the manslaughter charge, the prosecutor’s office later backed down and reached a settlement with Numrich, where he pleaded guilty to the crime of Attempted Reckless Endangerment, a simple misdemeanor and agreed to serve 45 days in jail. Numrich also had to pay a fine of $100,000, in addition to the original L&I fine, and serve probation for 18 months, limiting his contact with the Felton family and the type of work his company can perform.)

In 2018, 20 year old Kyle Hancock was killed when a 15 foot deep trench collapsed on top of him while he was  helping fix a sewage backup near a recreation center in Baltimore. Hancock had recently graduated from high school. Maryland OSHA issued 4 willful violations and a $275,000 penalty against Warder Construction, but neither MOSH nor the Baltimore prosecutor pursued criminal prosecution. Hopefully MOSH or the local prosecutor will take a more aggressive stance this time around if the conditions warrant.

Workers Need to Be Organized and Educated

Like the two workers killed last week in Maryland, most construction work — especially small jobs by small companies you see around the neighborhood — is done by immigrant workers who speak little English and may be undocumented. (The large, federally funded programs are much more likely to be done by union workers.  And you’ll usually see the use of trench boxes.)

Almost none of the workers in small construction companies belong to unions and even if they understand that the work is dangerous, they are generally reluctant to complain or file an OSHA complaint for fear of being fired or reported to ICE.  Some of these workers, however, may have some contact with local worker rights groups that have access to health and safety information.  Health and safety activists and COSH groups around the country are working with these workers and worker rights group to ensure their safety.

Do It Yourself

Of course, as I’ve written many times before, you don’t need to hope that an OSHA inspector shows up when you see an dangerous trench in your neighborhood. Even though OSHA (and state OSHAs) are far to pressed to monitor every small construction site in the country, most trenches I run across are located in plain site of anyone who happens to be walking by. As I mentioned above, it’s fairly easy for an amateur to determine if a trench is hazardous — if it’s over a worker’s head and there is no trench box or shoring, then it can kill. (Fall hazards are also easy: the employer is violating OSHA’s fall protection standard if any worker is working above 6 feet with fall protection.)

If you’ve often fanaticized about being a real live brave OSHA inspector, but went into some boring, less productive private sector occupation instead, I’ve written a do it yourself workplace safety protection post to show how you can emulate your heroes at OSHA.

When you run across a hazardous trench, take pictures, talk to the supervisor, and if that doesn’t get workers out of a dangerous trench and you feel like their in imminent danger, call your local OSHA Regional or Area Office or 1-800-321-OSHA.  If it’s not urgent, file an OSHA complaint online.

More Reading

There have been two powerful and hard-hitting investigative pieces on trench collapses over the past few years:

Death in the Trench, by veteran investigative reporter Jim Morris.

250+ workers have died in preventable trench cave-ins over a decade, probe finds, NPR, and a related Texas Public Radio piece.