Men who died in trench flooding to be honored

The head of the state’s leading labor organization says two men killed when a construction trench they were working in on Dartmouth Street was flooded by a ruptured water main will be honored at the State House next spring at an annual tribute to laborers who are killed or injured on the job.

Steve Tolman, president of the Massachusetts AFLCIO, said he hasn’t determined whether Kelvin “Chuck” Mattocks, 53, of Brockton and Robert “Robbie” Higgins, 47, of Warren, R.I., were union-affiliated, but said they’ll be remembered at the Workers’ Memorial Day Commemoration in April.

With state and federal investigations underway, Tolman said he also hopes to learn more about what led to Friday’s tragic events.

“It was a horrible thing,” he said. “Both had families, both were well thought of. And they never made it home.”

Kevin Otto, president of Atlantic Drain Services Inc., the Roslindale company for which Mattocks and Higgins were working as private contractors, did not return a call yesterday. The company, which Otto’s father founded in 1978, has nearly a decade’s worth of safety violations flagged by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration that have resulted in more than $140,000 in fines.

Jake Wark, spokesman for Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley, said the investigation is “still very active. We’re mindful of our duty, to these men’s families and the public at large, to find the facts, understand the circumstances, and apply the law,” Wark said.

“At the end of the day, this is an investigation to determine whether criminal charges are warranted. That’s an exacting process and we approach it without any prejudgment as to the end result.”