# Deadly trench cave in !



## MASTRPLUMB (Mar 22, 2019)

Jack Lewis Martin, 41, was a journeyman plumber for several years, family members said.

His father, Larry Martin, went to the site of the collapse.

"If I could've traded his life for mine, I would," Larry Martin said.

Martin was buried while doing a job behind a shopping center along the North Freeway at Parker. working on a sewer line repair 

According to officials with the Houston Fire Department, Martin was trapped in a trench measuring about 5 feet by 6 feet, when dirt fell in on him.

Nearby residents say they heard cries of, "Help me, help me," after the collapse as a co-worker rushed to his aid.
HFD Deputy Chief Douglas Harrison says Martin's coworker tried to use a backhoe to dig him out, but then the equipment partially fell into the trench.

OSHA representatives were called to the scene to investigate. :crying:


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

Poor guy... people never think it's going to happen to them...

Importance of using a trench box...

Guys around here dont use them all the time... I shake my head...

Wont even go close to a hole without means of shoring


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

When is the last time dumb a$$es sloped an 8' trench or shore for a house water line in the front yard or sewer line? I haven't seen that yet.


We are told repeatedly it's a death trap but nobody cares... Even the guy who goes in to work in it. Well that's what happens when you don't say no to your boss and afraid to get fired, you die. Or stupid or ignorant for that matter.


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## Venomthirst (Jun 20, 2018)

Our city inspectors will call the ministry on us if were not wearing a hard hat let alone not using a box


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Very sad indeed.

I've been told that if a trench collapses onto you leaving your head exposed, you may still die. Despite the head being exposed, each time you let out a breath, the loose earth collapses a little bit more around your chest preventing you from inhaling. Sort of like how a big boa constrictor snake kills its prey.


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## Toli (Nov 7, 2015)

Tommy plumber said:


> Very sad indeed.
> 
> 
> 
> I've been told that if a trench collapses onto you leaving your head exposed, you may still die. Despite the head being exposed, each time you let out a breath, the loose earth collapses a little bit more around your chest preventing you from inhaling. Sort of like how a big boa constrictor snake kills its prey.




I’ve been buried from just above the knees down. It was weird how it happened. I was still standing when it was done caving in. Usually you get knocked over and folded into a knot. 

Judging by what I felt I’d say you’re right. I couldn’t move at all. 

There’s people dying in trench collapses all the damn time. 

I get it, boxes are a pain in arse. But it beats dying in a muddy ditch. 


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Toli said:


> I’ve been buried from just above the knees down. It was weird how it happened. I was still standing when it was done caving in. Usually you get knocked over and folded into a knot.
> 
> Judging by what I felt I’d say you’re right. I couldn’t move at all.
> 
> ...



Slopes are allowed too.


.


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## The Dane (Feb 19, 2015)

Around here I have normally only seen the trench stepped out (sloped) but honestly normally not quite as much as in that picture.

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## V.A Hydro-ooter (Oct 14, 2018)

The only time I've done sloping was when I was doing new home plumbing. There was no landscaping to worry about, no driveways, sidewalks, etc. Doing that at someone's house is a good way to not get called back around here. 

We use shoring on all trenches over 4'. It's not worth the risk not to.


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## Toli (Nov 7, 2015)

Tango said:


> Slopes are allowed too.
> 
> 
> 
> ...




Sure it is. But there just isn’t room to slope a ditch on most 99% of the digs I’m involved with. 


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Tango said:


> Slopes are allowed too.
> 
> 
> .











That is called the angle of repose. That is a slope at which a cave-in won't occur. Reposer for those who didn't take French in school means to rest. So the angle of repose is the angle at which the soil rests and is stable.
The angle depends on the material.


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## DownUnder (Jul 3, 2019)

Man, terrible stuff. I see it all the time, people posting pics on instagram. Excavations are over 6’ deep with no shoring and bursting pipe or lining. Awful way to go. Sorry to his family.


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## goeswiththeflow (Feb 24, 2018)

Venomthirst said:


> Poor guy... people never think it's going to happen to them...


That right there. 

What a fukking shame, a waste, and 100% preventable. I get disgusted at having to even say it once, let alone multiple times, to guys I've worked with. More than once I've been the outsider who won't go along just because everyone else is doing it, and I don't care. I really hope I never have to say I told you so. Some of the safety Nazis can get carried away sometimes with foolish little proceedures which really do very little to keep people safe, but insistiing on trench boxes is not one of those times.

Who wants to be the one who has to face his wife and kids after working with him while not insisting on a trench box?


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## Tango (Jan 13, 2018)

Here's an an even worse death, 2 of them in the same trench buried to their waist then flooded and drowned. Another insane and unscrupulous boss pushing their employees and falsifying paper work and these 2 employees not standing up for themselves or being stubborn too. Well they paid for it.


https://www.cleaner.com/online_excl...utm_content=newsletter&cmp=1&utm_medium=email


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## Tommy plumber (Feb 19, 2010)

Tango said:


> Here's an an even worse death, 2 of them in the same trench buried to their waist then flooded and drowned. Another insane and unscrupulous boss pushing their employees and falsifying paper work and these 2 employees not standing up for themselves or being stubborn too. Well they paid for it.
> 
> 
> https://www.cleaner.com/online_excl...utm_content=newsletter&cmp=1&utm_medium=email












Just read that story....what a horrible way to die. Poor men. And the loved ones that are left behind. Very sad.


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## Logtec (Jun 3, 2018)

Years ago I got buried up to my waist, and a coworker got a broken wrist, when the side caved in on us in a 4’ trench. 
The company we were working for was shady (lots of general labourers and co-op students digging up main drains), I didn’t know it at the time, but after the cave in I refused to dig without shoring, they didn’t want to pay for the time or material. 
I quit shortly after.


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## GAN (Jul 10, 2012)

I've had two collapses, got lucky on both no injuries, didn't get buried.


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

I guess I've been lucky...


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## goeswiththeflow (Feb 24, 2018)

Tango said:


> Here's an an even worse death, 2 of them in the same trench buried to their waist then flooded and drowned. Another insane and unscrupulous boss pushing their employees and falsifying paper work and these 2 employees not standing up for themselves or being stubborn too. Well they paid for it.
> 
> 
> https://www.cleaner.com/online_excl...utm_content=newsletter&cmp=1&utm_medium=email


The owner of that company was sentenced to jail, only 2 years, and he walked out of the courtroom because another liberal judge wanted to let him spend the holidays at home, and be free on appeal. There are two families who won't ever again have their loved ones at home for the holidays. They don't get to appeal their deaths. It's just wrong.


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## goeswiththeflow (Feb 24, 2018)

GAN said:


> I've had two collapses.


Most guys who've been in a collapse don't get to say that.

They either learn their lesson the first time..........or they're dead.


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## ShtRnsdownhill (Jan 13, 2016)

looking back at my younger days and some of the risky work I did either for a boss or myself I just say to myself I was lucky to have made it this far....many times you dont want to perceive the risk or you do but discount that it will happen to you.....as you get older and see what happens around you , the smarter ones absorb and remember and become safer workers and the others make front page of the news....


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## MACPLUMB777 (Jun 18, 2008)

Tango said:


> Here's an an even worse death, 2 of them in the same trench buried to their waist then flooded and drowned. Another insane and unscrupulous boss pushing their employees and falsifying paper work and these 2 employees not standing up for themselves or being stubborn too. Well they paid for it.
> 
> 
> https://www.cleaner.com/online_excl...nnot do any work requiring Excavation, :sad2:


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## dhal22 (Jul 30, 2010)

Use a trench box. Cheap and light.


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