R, Williams Construction Co V. Oshrc

What was the legal issue in this case?

On September 19, 2002, a Williams employee, Jose Aguiniga, was killed in a trench cave-in at Williams’ Santa Ynez worksite. After being notified of the fatality, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) initiated an inspection. As a result of that inspection, Williams was issued citations alleging violations of the Act. By filing a timely notice of contest Williams brought this proceeding before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (Williams).

A subject trench ran east/west, was approximately 40-45 feet long, between 10 and 12 feet deep, and had a bottom width of between 3 and 4 feet. Due to the presence of water, which was constantly seeping into the trench, the soil was classified as type C. The bottoms five feet of the walls were vertical, after which they were sloped back to approximately 45 degrees. The trench was not sloped to OSHA specifications; Williams relied on shoring for its employees’ protection. The pipe in the west end of the trench had been installed, and all shoring had been removed from that end in preparation for backfilling. Joseph Goforth, Williams’ equipment operator, was using the loader to move spoils from the south side of the trench to the west, or back end, so it could be used for backfilling. Rick Dzamba, the excavator operator, was running the excavator at the east, or leading end, extending the trench for the next length of pipe (Williams).

Adan Palomar arrived at the job site at approximately 7:00 a.m. on September 19, 2002 with Williams’s employee Sergio Lopez. The two men would enter the trench; one would pick up the pump and the other would clean the debris out of the bottom. Though the pumps could be pulled up and cleaned from the top of the trench, it was the practice to clean out the buckets, or wells, that the pumps sat in. This could only be done from inside the trench. It was not uncommon for the pumps to be cleaned up to ten times a day. The planned...