Hillsboro company fined $80K after OSHA found workers in ‘extremely dangerous’ trench

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — Oregon state officials overseeing workplace safety fined a Hillsboro company more than $80,000 after an unsafe trench was discovered on a work site earlier this month, authorities said.

The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) issued the fines to Renner Trucking and Excavating Inc. “for repeatedly violating rules that protect workers from trenches caving in on them.”

This comes after Oregon OSHA inspectors found two workers in a trench that had no protective system in place during a Renner job site as part of a home being built in Beaverton on May 12. The trench was about three feet wide by 12 feet long and more than five feet deep.

Trenching and excavation hazards like this “are extremely dangerous to workers,” Oregon OSHA said in a press release, adding that a cave-in “can trap and kill within seconds.”

“Any employer preparing to do this type of work must take the well-known dangers seriously by following safety requirements designed to protect workers,” said Renée Stapleton, administrator for Oregon OSHA, in a statement. “Workers have a right to hazard-free jobsites. Employers must make that right a reality.”

Oregon OSHA cited Renner for violating three codes in the Oregon Safe Employment Act. Two of them were first-repeat violations that carried a penalty of $39,696 each, for failure to provide the protective system and failure to ensure a competent person was available to identify and address the hazard. Another violation for $1,412 was for failing to provide sufficient protection for employees from loose rock or soil potentially falling from the face of the trench onto their heads.

The fines total $80,804, altogether, and Renner has 30 days to file an appeal.

Oregon OSHA has more information about excavation safety and requirements for competent persons on job sites.