Collapsed Minnetonka trench was dug by company with past violation
National Affairs Matt Sepic · Jul 26, 2016
Updated: 3:10 p.m. | Posted: 6:33 a.m.
The company that dug a trench that collapsed Monday morning in Minnetonka, killing one worker and injuring another, paid a fine for a trench safety violation nearly six years ago.
One of the men was unresponsive when firefighters extracted him, Minnetonka Fire Chief John Vance said. The other worker was buried up to his waist and was able to climb out once rescuers dug out the soil around him.
According to the Hennepin County Medical Examiner, Jimmy Scott Klous, 48, of Onamia, died just after 11 a.m. Monday, less an hour after firefighters pulled him from the trench.
Vance said the men were working about 12 to 15 feet below ground in a space that was approximately 6 feet wide. They were not using a trench box, a four-sided rectangular steel enclosure meant to protect against collapse, Vance said.
"It seemed like the soil they were working in was muddy soil and the area that sloughed in on the workers was certainly the wet or muddy soil," Vance said.
He said the 911 call came in at 10:01 a.m.
"We were on the scene within five minutes. And by 10:24, both victims were out of the trench."
Minnetonka city spokesperson Kari Spreeman said Dave Perkins Contracting was responsible for the trench, which the company's workers dug to access water and sewer lines as part of a major utility overhaul on Oakland Road.
The Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident.
Records from the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, which enforces workplace safety laws, show the company paid a fine of $1,050 for a trench safety violation in 2010.
The company, which declined comment on Monday's incident, was hired to repair a water line at a home in Mounds View that year. State occupational safety and health inspectors said an employee was exposed to "potential cave-in hazards" at the bottom of a trench that was 5 feet 9 inches deep and just over 9 feet across at the top.
Inspectors said the trench should have been nearly 22 feet across to allow for adequate sloping. According to the DLI documents, inspectors found a trench box at the job site, but it was not in use.
==================
Worker buried when trench collapsed in Minnetonka has died
By Tim Harlow Star Tribune
July 26, 2016 — 10:35pm
Mark Vancleave Two construction workers were hurt, and one of them later died, when a trench they were digging in Minnetonka collapsed on Monday.
One of the two construction workers trapped when a trench they were digging collapsed Monday morning in Minnetonka has died, the Hennepin County medical examiner’s office said.
Jimmy Scott Klous, 48, of Onamia, Minn., was working on the 1900 block of Oakland Road when the dirt gave way around 10 a.m.
Scott was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center where he died about an hour later. The cause of death was still under investigation, the medical examiner said.
Klous and another man identified as Tory Swan, were working for Dave Perkins Contracting Inc., doing prep work ahead of a city project to replace an aging storm and sanitary sewer system and make other roadway improvements.
Klous was completely covered by dirt for about 20 minutes and was unresponsive when responders reached him. Swan was buried up to his waist.
Minnetonka police and officials from the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating.
According to state records, Dave Perkins Contracting Inc. was cited for a previous “serious violation” in 2010.
The company was fined for exposing an employee to “cave-in hazards while working in an excavation that was greater than 5 feet deep without an effective protection system,” the complaint said.