Texas Contractor Faces $257K Fine After Teenager’s Death in Trench Collapse *Centurion Insurance AFS*

A Houston, Texas-area contractor is facing more than a quarter million dollars in fines after a federal investigation found the company’s willful regard for required safety procedures contributed to a teenager’s death when a a 15-foot trench wall collapsed on him near Fulshear in September 2023.

Investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration determined that Hurtado Construction Co. allowed the 18-year-old to work in the excavation without a proper protective system in place to prevent its collapse. The young worker suffered fatal injuries when the trench wall caved in, and tons of dirt pinned him against a reinforced concrete box.

The company was previously cited in November 2021 for failing to use an adequate protective system to prevent employees from a potentially deadly collapse at another excavation worksite in Katy, continuing a history of workplace safety failures that includes eight OSHA citations for not providing required protective systems after another worker fatality in January 2007.

The contractor faces $257,000 in proposed penalties for its violations. Headquartered in Richmond, Texas, Hurtado Construction provides water, sewer and stormwater line installations and repair.

Source: OSHA

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Texas
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