The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) has cited Smelly Mel’s Plumbing and Sewer Rat Plumbing for the injuries a worker sustained in a trench collapse in San Mateo in August 2024.
According to Cal/OSHA, a crew was handling a sewer line project at a private residence in San Mateo. The walls of the trench collapsed, burying a worker under the debris and causing serious injuries that required hospitalization.
The investigation uncovered 16 violations, evenly split between both businesses. Among these citations were two willful, serious accident-related violations—meaning the businesses were aware of the safety hazards, had prior warning, and still failed to take corrective action.
“Trench collapses remain one of the most serious hazards in construction, and employers must take all necessary steps to protect their employees, said Debra Lee, Cal/OSHA chief, in a statement “These citations serve as a reminder that businesses must prioritize worker safety, especially during high-risk operations to avoid tragic accidents.”
Key violations
- Inspection failure: Employers did not ensure that a competent person conducted daily inspections of the trench, adjacent areas, and protective systems that could have detected hazardous conditions such as cave-ins.
- Lack of safe exit routes: Both employers failed to provide the construction workers a ladder or other safe means of exiting the trench that was approximately 9 feet and 3 inches in depth.
- No adequate protective systems in trench: Neither employer provided adequate protective systems, such as shoring, shielding, sloping, or benching to the trench to prevent its collapse.
- Failure to protect workers from falling debris: Neither employer protected their workers from excavated materials or equipment that could pose a hazard by falling or rolling into the trench.
- Foot protection: The employer failed to ensure that their workers had proper foot protection, which exposed at least one worker to foot injuries when using a jackhammer.
- Insufficient emergency medical provisions: The employers did not have an appropriate number of trained persons to render first aid at the jobsite.
- Permit requirements: The employers failed to notify the division prior to the start of the annual permit-required activity of constructing an excavation over 5-feet in depth.
- Injury and illness prevention program: The employers failed to conduct a toolbox safety meeting at the jobsite with the crew for the duration of the project.
