Manchester company fined in fatal ’22 trench collapse

Cited by OSHA for failing to follow safety rules

The U.S. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has fined a Manchester contractor for failing to follow safety rules that could have prevented a trench collapse that contributed to the death of an employee who was buried during a trench collapse last summer in Vernon.

The workplace safety agency said the contractor, Botticello Inc., had been warned about what inspectors called four serious trench safety violations on an earlier job in Stafford. Botticello Inc. faces $375,000 in OSHA fines, the agency said.

The unidentified employee was buried when an 8-foot trench collapsed while he was connecting drainage piping at a residential development in July. OSHA had warned Botticello of the earlier violations in 2015.

“This deadly cave-in and the worker’s death should never have happened,” said OSHA Area Director Dale Varney. “After a previous OSHA inspection, Botticello Inc. knew of the dangers of working in an unprotected trench and the need to inspect the trench and ensure required effective cave-in protection was in place before any employee entered the trench. The company, however, still chose to ignore these required safeguards and now a worker’s family, friends and co-workers are left to grieve.”

In a statement announcing the fine, OSHA said Botticello failed to:

■ Provide the trench with a protective system to prevent it from collapsing and caving in on workers.

■ Have a competent person conduct inspections before and during the work to identify and correct any hazardous conditions before employees entered the trench.

■ Ensure the 135-foot-long trench contained sufficient means of egress to allow employees to safely exit.

“By most estimates, one cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as 3,000 pounds — about the weight of a subcompact car — and trench collapses happen in seconds, which helps explain why they are among the construction industry’s most fatal hazards,” Varney said. “OSHA has a National Emphasis Program in place to alert employers and workers of the dangers, and to hold violators accountable.

We encourage anyone who sees workers in an unsafe trench to help us save lives by reporting the hazardous situation to OSHA.”

Botticello provides construction contracting services including site work, rock crushing, stump grinding and demolition.

The company has 15 business days to contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, OSHA said. A Botticello spokesman declined comment.