RI Contractors Cited For Serious Safety Hazards At Warwick Site

WARWICK, RI — Two Rhode Island contractors were cited by the U.S. Department of Labor for unsafe working conditions at a sewer installation site. In total, the companies were fined nearly $75,000.

The companies were Reyes Landscaping Inc., also known as Reyes Landscaping & Masonry, in Johnston and TRD Contracting LLC in Greenville. In July, a federal inspector found that employees were working in a trench on Main Avenue in Warwick that was five feet, eight inches deep without cave-in protections in place.

Robert Sesito, the area director for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, said that "an unprotected trench can be an early grave."

"While no collapse occurred in Warwick, the danger to these workers was real and imminent. One cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as a small car," Sesito said. "For the safety and survival of their employees, employers must ensure that workers enter trenches only after adequate protections are in place to address cave-ins and related hazards."

Along with the unsafe trench construction, the inspector also found that the employer allowed removed soil to build up at the edge, which allowed some to fall back into the trench. Several other safety hazards were identified as well: the lack of inspection by a "competent person" before work began, no helmets to protect employees from falling objects, the use of an inadequate ladder to enter and exit the trench and the use of an uninspected, unlabeled chain to lift objects.

Five days later, OSHA inspectors returned to the site and found that the hazards had not been corrected, "continuing to expose its employees to cave-in and struck-by hazards in a 9 foot, 6 inch deep trench."

Reyes Landscaping was cited with two "willful" and five "serious" violations, with proposed fines of $63,586. TRD Contracting, meanwhile, was cited with four "serious" violations with $11,704 in penalties.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, trench collapses cause 24 deaths in 2019.