Photo shows the scene in Scripps Ranch after construction worker killed after being trapped under dirt and a pipe in a trench on Aug. 28, 2024.
A construction company has been issued $157,500 worth of fines over a predawn trench collapse that killed a 27-year-old laborer last summer at a work site in Scripps Ranch, state officials announced Thursday.
The California Division of Occupational Safety and Health issued the citations to Long Beach-based W.A. Rasic Construction for purported workplace- -safety regulations that led to the death of Joel Olea Gomez of San Marcos.
A representative of the company did not immediately return a call seeking comment on the ruling, which can be appealed.
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Gomez was in a 17-foot-deep unshored earthen channel that collapsed onto him at about 3 a.m. on Aug. 28, leaving him trapped under dirt and a large concrete pipe that construction crews were installing as part of the San Diego’s Pure Water Project at Hoyt Park Drive and Scripps Ranch Boulevard, according to the state Department of Industrial Relations and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department. Gomez died at the scene.
A second worker who was in the furrow at the time of the accident was able to avoid being buried, SDFRD Deputy Chief Dan Eddy told reporters that day. Emergency personnel had to shore up the trench to prevent any further collapses prior to removing the body of the Gomez, a process that took more than four hours.
According to Cal/OSHA, the company failed to conduct a proper
The violations that cumulatively led to the fatality, according to Cal/OSHA, were:
- Failure to implement an effective injury-and-illness prevention program to identify, evaluate and correct workplace hazards, and a lack of related training, a requirement that has been in place for more than 30 years.
- Failure to conduct a proper inspection of the excavation site, which kept supervisors from identifying conditions that could lead to cave-in hazards, and a lack of necessary protective systems, such as trench boxes or shoring, that could have prevented the collapse.
- Failure to provide adequate cave-in protections, a "critical" lapse that exposed workers to the risk of fatal injury, according to the state investigative agency.
"No worker should lose their life due to preventable safety failures," Cal/OSHA Chief Debra Lee said. "We will continue to enforce trench-safety regulations, hold employers accountable and work to ensure that safety standards are upheld to protect workers."
Employers have the right to appeal any Cal/OSHA citation and notification of penalty by filing an appeal with the Occupational Safety and Health Appeals Board within 15 working days of being notified of the punitive measures.
Following his death, family told NBC 7 that Gomez was proud of the work he was doing and had ambitions to become a professional welder and run his own company someday.
“There were people that would tell him, 'You know what? You should probably look for a different job because it’s dangerous,' ” Marcos Olea said, adding that, however, that didn't stop his brother from keeping the job.
Olea also said his brother was loving and generous with his time, often working on projects for his family and friends or local church.
