Excavation company ignores serious dangers again, leaves workers unprotected in underground trench to remove Naperville sewer line

Employer name: Kellenberger Plumbing & Underground, Elgin, Illinois

Inspection site: 2708 Showplace Drive, Naperville, Illinois

Citations issued: May 2, 2016

Investigation findings: The U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Calumet City Area Office cited Kellenberger Plumbing & Underground for one willful and one serious safety violation for not providing cave-in protection or having a competent person on site to remove employees from a hazardous area.

The agency opened an investigation under OSHA’s National Emphasis Program on trenching and excavation after receiving a complaint that two workers were removing a sewer line in a trench more than 8-feet deep at a workplace under construction in Naperville on March 4, 2016.

Quote: “An unprotected trench can bury a worker under thousands of pounds of soil in seconds and cause severe or fatal injuries,” said Kathy Webb, OSHA’s area director at its Calumet City Area Office. “Since 2012, OSHA has now cited Kellenberger Plumbing three times for violating federal trenching standards. The company knows that every trench deeper than 5 feet must have cave-in protection. They are putting their employees in serious danger by ignoring federal safety standards.”

Proposed Penalties: $59,290

Citations: View here.

To ask questions, obtain compliance assistance, file a complaint, or report amputations, eye loss, workplace hospitalizations, fatalities or situations posing imminent danger to workers, the public should call OSHA’s toll-free hotline at 800-321-OSHA (6742) or the agency’s Calumet City Area Office at (708) 891-3800.