Employee Practically Buried In Shadyside Trench | Information, Sports activities, Jobs

Emergency services from the OR&W Fire District rescued a man from a potentially fatal situation on Wednesday afternoon.

“We had a worker who was digging a trench and the trench fell on him,” said fire chief Dave Lenz. “You dug for a sewer, the contractor. He was buried up to about his stomach. “

Lenz did not know the name of the executing contractor. He said the project would take place at Block 4400 on Grand Avenue in Shadyside.

“He couldn’t get out. We answered and were able to dig it up. He suffered some injuries, not serious injuries, but was transported to (WVU Medicine) Reynolds (Memorial) Hospital (in Gen Dale), very happy, ”said Lenz. “The trench was probably eight feet deep and they didn’t have any kind of barriers or anything to hold the trench walls in place and it collapsed on top of it.”

Lenz said the rescue efforts required caution among the emergency services.

“The trench rescue, you can’t put too many people in the hole because you don’t want the sides to collapse anymore, so we sent two of our people down there and digged around with shovels very carefully. He really couldn’t help us, ”he said. “It probably took me 15, 20 minutes of solid digging.”

He said the contractor stopped work for the day.

“I’m not sure what will happen there until an investigation,” said Lenz. “It’s up to (the Occupational Safety and Health Agency) or (Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation) to decide whether to investigate. … As we were walking away, we said to them, ‘You can’t go back there without some kind of support or something.’ That was very close to losing someone down there. “

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