Boonton, NJ — A 10-foot trench at a residential construction site collapsed on Wednesday, killing two workers from Honduras. Police said that Oscar Portillo, 46, and Selvin Zelaya, 39, died after the drainage ditch they were digging earlier in the week accidentally collapsed.
It happened around 3:45 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, at a home construction site on Rockaway Valley Road. Both Portillo and Zelaya were working on constructing a french drain system when the walls of the 10-foot deep trench started to fall.
Workers at the site said that one of the workers was inside the trench when it collapsed and the other jumped in to help him, getting buried as well.
Police and rescue workers were at the scene, trying to dig the men out, but they passed away during the collapse. So far, OSHA is also looking into this accident.
Scene of the Accident
Commentary:
Each state is a little different in how they handle work-related accident, but one thing is almost universal in every state: workers don’t have the right to sue their employers for negligence. Instead, there’s a system called “worker’s compensation benefits” that we use to give injured workers (or the families of deceased workers) some financial compensation when a workplace accident happens. I have a big problem with this system because, by and large, it protects the employer – not the employee. If they can never be sued for wrongdoing, what’s to stop an employer from having a dangerous worksite? Cutting corners to save costs? The answer is, apart from OSHA fines, not much.
If this trench was being dug without proper shoring devices to stabilize the walls, then I’d say the foreman (or whoever was watching over the work) has some explaining to do. That’s like climbing up on a roof with no safety gear. I hope the company these men were working for does the right thing and makes amends with their families, but that’s sadly not the norm.
— Grossman Law Offices
