"This employer was aware of safe trenching practices but chose not to implement them," said James Borders, OSHA's Jacksonville area director. Borders added that company officials had attended OSHA training classes and had a designated competent person at the job site.
The company received two willful citations, with proposed penalties totaling $66,000, for allegedly failing to use a trench box or properly sloped or shored trench walls and for allegedly placing excavated material too near the edges of the trench.
Three serious citations, with proposed penalties of $3,900, were issued for the company's alleged failure to properly train employees and for allegedly not providing adequate means for entering and exiting the trench.