{"id":1789,"date":"2017-08-21T15:49:14","date_gmt":"2017-08-21T19:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/?p=1789"},"modified":"2017-08-21T16:11:41","modified_gmt":"2017-08-21T20:11:41","slug":"trench-death-it-started-caving-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jordanbarab.com\/confinedspace\/2017\/08\/21\/trench-death-it-started-caving-in\/","title":{"rendered":"Trench Death: \u2018Mom, I got in a ditch today, and it started caving in on me and I got out\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Trench
D.J. and Ashten Meyer<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There is so much sad and infuriating about this story that it’s hard to know where to begin. How about here?<\/p>\n

Donald J. “DJ” Meyer was buried alive last December 10 at the bottom of an unshored 12-foot deep trench in Belton, Mo. Meyer, an employee of Arrow Plumbing, had a 9 year old son, Ashten, and was a single father after his wife had died four years before.<\/p>\n

OSHA issued fines<\/a> totaling\u00a0more than $700,000 for violations leading to Meyer’s death, and — and this is where it gets really bad — for similar violations at another site two weeks later<\/em> — mainly not using a trench box in a trench more than 5 feet deep and not training employees about the hazards of trenches.\u00a0Less than $300,000 of the$714,142 fine was related to the incident that killed Meyer. The additional $420,083 fine against Arrow came from what they found at the second site: workers in an unprotected 13 foot trench. It was the second-largest fine issued by OSHA under the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

Mike Hendricks of the Kansas City Star<\/a> tells a heartbreaking story of Meyer’s death and the wreckage it leaves behind.<\/p>\n

Meyer’s mother,\u00a0Theresa O\u2019Hare, was devastated by her son’s death, but was moving on with her life, raising her orphaned grandson, when OSHA issued its citation and she realized that not only had Arrow killed her son, but then went on to put more workers in the same danger just weeks later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just could not believe it,\u201d O\u2019Hare told The Star. \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t this man understand or learn his lesson from the death of my son?\u201d<\/p>\n

The man O’Hare is referring to is Arrow owner Ricky Smith. \u00a0Arrow had received several willful citations (making it vulnerable to criminal indictment), partially because\u00a0Smith had attended a trench cave-in safety course two months before Meyer was sent to his death in the 12-foot deep trench. Smith has contested the OSHA citations, and in an all too common practice among employers who kill workers, he blamed Meyer for his own death.<\/p>\n

While Smith declined an interview last week on the advice of his lawyer, he told The Star back in December that he couldn\u2019t understand why Meyer had climbed into the unprotected trench that killed him.<\/p>\n

He said a metal trench box was available near the job site, and he didn\u2019t know why Meyer hadn\u2019t used it.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a competent person by his knowledge of what he was doing, his experience,\u201d Smith said at the time. \u201cHe had training in trenches before he came to work for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the footage is you need to shore, because we didn\u2019t do it anyway.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But OSHA found no trench box at the site, and there was also evidence that workers had not been trained. Meyer’s cousin, Tim O’Hare, who had recommended the job to him, described the situation:<\/p>\n

It scared him to work at the bottom of a 12-foot trench with no shoring to keep the walls from caving in on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, for sure,\u201d he said, \u201cbut we just did it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He wasn\u2019t aware of the federal rule requiring shoring or sloping for trenches more than 5 feet deep until after he left the company, and while he was there he never received formal training.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what the footage is you need to shore,\u201d he said, \u201cbecause we didn\u2019t do it anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n

And most tragically, even Meyer was aware that he was risking his life every day, according to his mother.<\/p>\n

D.J. often told her about the chances he took.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe would say, \u2018Mom, I got in a ditch today, and it started caving in on me and I got out,\u2019 \u201d O\u2019Hare said. \u201cAnd I told him, \u2018Please, you\u2019ve got to be safe for Ashten. You\u2019re the only parent he\u2019s got.\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n

Ashten\u2019s mother had died of a medical condition four years before his dad did, and for that reason the boy clung to him all the more.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery morning,\u201d O\u2019Hare said, \u201cmy grandson would ask his daddy, \u2018Are you coming back home?\u2019 And Daddy would say \u2018yes\u2019 and they would hug and kiss each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

The morning he left, he told his mother he’d be late because the boss wanted the job done that day.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cWhen I heard it was 12 feet deep, I knew from previous experience it was a body recovery.” —\u00a0Belton Fire Chief Norman Larkey<\/strong><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Trench Lessons (not) Learned<\/h2>\n

I’ve written most of this before, but it seems you can’t repeat it enough.<\/p>\n