OSHA issues citations in 2022 trench collapse

JONESBORO — Several Occupational Safety and Health Administration citations have been issued in a trench collapse that claimed the life of one man and injured two others in December of 2022.

According to the OSHA report, which remains open, meaning violations could be added or removed, Southern Diversified Technologies, Inc. of Little Rock had two employees inside a six-foot deep trench working on a damaged fiber optic cable when the collapse occurred at approximately 1 p.m. on Dec. 12.

SDT, Inc. has contested all the violations and the fines, which total $218,759.

Austin Neth, 31, of Walnut Ridge, died in the collapse, which occurred in front of Affordable Medical Supplies, across from NEA Baptist Hospital, on East Johnson Avenue in Jonesboro. His co-worker Matt Buckley, 39, of Maynard, was injured, according to a Jonesboro police report.

Jonesboro police officer Victor Garcia wrote in his report that he responded to the scene and talked to a witness, Jonathan Howard, who said they were digging a trench to repair a damaged cable when one side collapsed on Buckley and Neth. Howard said Buckley’s head and Neth’s back were exposed when the side collapsed again.

Neth was pronounced dead at the scene, and Buckley was transported to NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital.

Although co-workers managed to rescue one of three trapped workers, the Jonesboro Fire Department was called in to lead the rescue operation after a secondary collapse further pinned the two remaining workers, Jonesboro Fire Chief Martin Hamrick said later that afternoon.

Hamrick said that they received a call around 1 p.m. to help rescue the utility workers.

“We were able to save one,” he said, noting that by 3 p.m., one of the workers had been rescued and taken to the hospital and the body of the second worker had been recovered.

The OSHA report stated that the employees had been working in the trench for approximately three hours when the trench caved in for the first time at approximately 1 p.m.

“A secondary cave-in occurred approximately five minutes later,” the report states. “Employee #1 was killed due to asphyxiation and crushed ribs. Employee #2 was hospitalized for his injuries. Employee #3 escaped with minor injuries.”

OSHA’s report includes four serious violations, with penalties of $15,625 each assessed, and one willful violation, with a penalty of $156,259 assessed.

The citations listed are as follows:

Willful violation 1: The employer did not instruct each employee in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions and the regulations applicable to his/her environment to control or eliminate any hazards or other exposure to illness or injury.

Serious violation 1: A stairway, ladder, ramp or other safe means of egress was not located in trench excavations that were 4 feet or more in depth so as to require no more than 25 feet of lateral travel for employees.

Serious violation 2: Adequate protection was not provided to protect employees from loose rock or soil that could pose a hazard by falling or rolling from an excavation face.

Serious violation 3: Daily inspections of excavations, the adjacent areas, and protective systems were not made by a competent person for evidence of a situation that could have resulted in possible cave-ins, indications of failure of protective systems, hazardous atmospheres, or other hazardous conditions.

Serious violation 4: Each employee in an excavation was not protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system designed in accordance with 29 CFR 1926.652 (b) or (c).

Fines assessed on the report are the maximums that can be assessed for the violations listed.

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