Contractor Fined $400K After Deadly Renton Trench Collapse

RENTON, WA — State labor officials have fined a Kent-based contractor more than $400,000 in the wake of a trench collapse that killed a worker in Renton last September.

First responders recovered the body of Surjit Gill, 36, following a multihour operation involving multiple agencies around the region on Sept. 7. The Puget Sound Regional Fire Authority said Gill was working in a 20-foot-deep trench when it collapsed, burying him under 10 feet of dirt.

On Tuesday, the state Department of Labor & Industries announced $437,581 in fines levied against AAA Contractors Inc. after an investigation concluded the company committed three willful and one serious violation leading up to the incident.

Inspectors ruled that no one had evaluated the trench for safety before Gil began working, and the shields that were in place were not sufficient for the depth of the trench and the type of soil. The investigation also determined workers had no safe way to exit the trench.

“One cubic yard of soil can weigh more than a car,” said Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “Dirt walls can collapse suddenly and without any warning. That’s why there are safety rules in place. The requirements are well known by employers in the industry, and effective when followed. Mr. Gill should still be alive today.”

Backwood said inspectors discovered the trench box was four feet shorter than needed, while a second box found on site went unused. The collapse may have been prevented if the second box had been stacked on the first, inspectors said. The probe also found two damaged ladders tied together with rope, which even together did not meet the height requirement for the trench.

L&I officials noted that workplace deaths from excavation and trenching are on the rise in recent years, killing nearly three dozen workers across the nation in 2022. That figure includes two Washington men who died after a trench collapsed in Shoreline last July. Last March, the owner of Alki Construction was sentenced to 45 days in jail over his role in a 2016 trench collapse in West Seattle.

In addition to the fine, L&I said AAA Contractors is now classified as a "severe violator," which subjects the company to increased scrutiny. The company has filed an appeal.