Trenching & Excavation Accidents 7

Trenching & Excavation Accidents #7

updated on 05/06/2010

Trapped worker dies despite emergency response
By RYAN GILLIS, Journal Staff Writer 8/29/2003
WELLSVILLE — Emergency crews from around the area converged on Wellsville Thursday after a worker became trapped while digging near a gym on Wells Avenue extension. Despite the number of people responding to the accident scene, the victim did not survive. The county coroner’s investigator was at the accident scene and is investigating. Wellsville police deferred questions about the accident to the coroner’s office, but no one from that office could be reached for comment Thursday night. Investigators were releasing no details at the accident scene, but the man apparently was installing pipe near the Curves For Women gym at 557 Wells Avenue, when, according to unconfirmed reports, the hole he was working in collapsed around him. It is not clear if the man was working alone or as part of a team when the accident occurred. Unofficial reports at the scene suggested the man already was dead as firefighters worked to dig him out of the hole. Some could be seen lifting 5-gallon buckets of earth from the accident site. There was no sense of urgency in their actions. Drivers on state Route 7, which runs parallel to the Wells Avenue extension, were pulling over and stretching to get a better look across the highway at the group of police, firefighters and ambulance crews swarming between the gym and the Riverside Roadhouse. After what was at least two hours of digging, the victim’s body was removed from the hole and loaded into an ambulance. Almost simultaneously, calls went out for a medic as one of the firefighters at the scene succumbed to the heat and collapsed. Men and equipment from the Wellsville police and fire departments, Liverpool Township Fire Department, Follansbee Fire Rescue, Highlandtown and Irondale volunteer fire departments were working at the accident scene. 

Man saved from fallen ditch; Public safety officials seek criminal charges against injured worker
By Sasha Talcott, Globe Correspondent, 8/23/2003 
As the construction worker sank deeper into a quicksand-like mixture of muddy water and silt, he spoke desperately of two things: his pregnant wife and his young daughter. Buried up to his chest in khaki-colored sludge, he struggled to pull himself out of the 11-foot-deep trench, begging firefighters to help him. But every time he moved, he slipped down deeper. Boston sewer workers started vaccuuming the liquid out of the trench and two firefighters leapt into it, digging at the sludge around him, which was thick and glue-like. Finally they were able to free him. ”We told him we weren’t going to get out of that hole unless we took him with us,” said firefighter Kevin Ranahan. ”The water was burying him.” The painstaking, nerve-wracking rescue near Dudley and Vine streets in Roxbury required 20 firefighters, emergency, and Boston Water and Sewer workers and took 2 1/2 hours. But the state Executive Office of Public Safety said the accident should never have happened. Commissioner Joseph Lalli said the offie plans to seek criminal charges against the injured worker, who they said was operating excavating machinery at the site without a license. The department is also weighing charges against the company in charge of the project, Free Flow Plumbing and Drain King, which was apparently replacing a sewer line at the scene. ”We have a man who was taken to the hospital with serious injuries,” Lalli said. ”There are going to be penalties all the way down the road. In today’s day and age, when we have made trench safety so important, there is no excuse.” Four Free Flow Plumbing and Drain King employees at the trench declined comment. A worker in the company’s office referred calls back to employees at the scene. It was about 11 a.m. yesterday when the worker, whose name has not been released, was digging near a sewer line at private property near the corner of Dudley and Vine streets in Roxbury. Suddenly, the trench began to sink, filling with water and sludge. Firefighters at the scene said they thought the injured worker or another employee ruptured the sewer line, though investigators are still determining what caused the collapse. When 24 emergency workers arrived, they found three workers in the rapidly filling trench, two attempting to pull the trapped worker to safety. The firefighters instructed two workers who were in a shallow part of the trench to get out, then fitted the trapped worker with an oxygen mask and attached him to a safety harness to prevent him from falling deeper. Even with the harness, the worker was practically glued to the bottom the trench, and firefighters feared they would tear his body into two if they tried to pull him out right away. ”He kept telling me, `Just get me out of here,’ ” said firefighter Bob Kilduff. A firefighter said the injured worker had been taken to Boston Medical Center. His condition was not available, but his injuries are not life-threatening, he said. Late yesterday afternoon, officials at the state’s public safety office were still trying to determine what had caused the accident. The office will also probe whether the trench, which firefighters said was about 4 feet deep before it sunk, should have had reinforcements to keep it from collapsing. Aaron Peterson, a trench specialist who works with the company United Rentals, said that the men should have reinforced the trench if they were going to be ducking down below ground level. Massachusetts law requires trenches deeper than 5 feet to have some kind of reinforcement, he said. ”It obviously wasn’t done, or else they wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” he said. 

Worker rescued from hole
By LEN MANIACE THE JOURNAL NEWS (Original publication: August 21, 2003)
RYE — Emergency crews yesterday rescued a masonry worker who was trapped in a nearly 9-foot-deep hole for more than 2 1/2 hours after the excavation walls collapsed. Joseph Malone of Port Chester was hoisted from the hole at 12:40 p.m. alongside a home at 140 Soundview Ave., where he had been making waterproofing repairs to a foundation, Police Commissioner Williams Connors said. Malone, said to be in his 60s, is employed by Ox Masonry of Greenwich, Conn. Malone was buried only to his waist, but the rescue was a painstaking one because officials feared the narrow hole, which measured approximately 2 feet by 5 feet, would collapse further. “All he said was ‘Get me out’ and ‘Be careful,’ ” said police Officer Julio Rossi, among the first emergency workers to arrive. Malone was taken to Westchester Medical Center in Valhalla, but a report on his condition was not available; a spokeswoman cited the new federal medical privacy law. Malone appeared to be in good condition when he was removed from the hole, Connors said. Dozens of emergency workers from Rye, Port Chester, New Rochelle and Greenburgh participated in the elaborate effort. Malone was quickly placed in a harness that hung from the end of a firetruck ladder that extended over the hole, while workers used wood planks to shore up the hole against further collapse. Malone was given an air mask to help with his breathing, a fan blew fresh, cooling air into the hole and he was later given intravenous fluids to prevent dehydration. Various pumps, excavation equipment and additional rescue workers stood ready in a front yard, where black-eyed Susans, phlox and marigolds bloomed. Emergency trucks waited on Soundview Avenue, a dead-end street off Boston Post Road adjacent to the Rye Golf Club. Overhead, three helicopters from television stations hovered. Because the hole was so small, Malone had to help with his own rescue, using a small shovel to remove some of the soil that pinned him. The mishap is under investigation by the federal Occupation, Safety, and Health Administration and the Rye Building Department, Connors said. The accident might have been prevented, Connors said, if the sides of the deep and narrow hole had been shored up before Malone and another worker began the waterproofing job. The other worker was not in the hole at the time of the collapse. “That’s how these things happen,” Connors said. “They take a chance; they don’t think about the danger.”

Cave-in Accidents Kill 4,Injure 13 in NE Province 
Four people were confirmed dead Sunday as a result of cave-in accidents at two construction sites in this capital of the northeastern province of Heilongjiang Saturday. The accidents, which occurred almost simultaneously around 19:30 Saturday, also injured 13 people and trapping more. Quite a few builders were working in the subbasement of Renhe Century Square project when an accident occurred, killing three people and injuring eight. Witnesses heard a rolling sound before the ground with an area of some 50 square meters suddenly caved in and saw some passers-byfalling into the sunken area. The exact number of people trapped underground and causes for the accident are still under investigation. The other accident in Harbin Engineering University killed one person and injured five. Officials from the Heilongjiang Provincial Government and Harbin City Government are coordinating rescue efforts at the accident sites. 

GAS LEAK QUICKLY CONTAINED; AFTER WORKERS SNAG LINE
STAFF August 15, 2003 
A gas leak on North Grand Street, caused when workers moved a construction refuse bin was quickly contained, city officials said. The accident occurred around noon when Tyler Solid Waste workers were removing a temporary construction container, or roll-off box, from 1010 N. Grand St., where PSC Construction was working on a house. “When we pulled the roll-off box it hung up on the gas line,” said Todd Lestage, Tyler Solid Waste special projects coordinator. “We immediately called the gas company and the fire department got there and everything got taken care of.” Lestage said the city places the container where the contractor wants, and the gas line was only about 8 to 10 inches underground at that location. No injuries were reported. 

Two rescued from Commerce trench collapse 
(Commerce-AP) — Two men were rescued in Commerce Thursday morning after a trench they were working in collapsed. The men’s names were immediately released. Commerce Police say the two were repairing sewer lines in a 10-foot trench behind a bank when the walls caved in. Commerce is located in the Tar Creek area where sink holes and mine collapses have occurred after years of lead and zinc mining. 

Gas line accident Portland forces evacuations 
By SOPHIA TAREEN The Courier-Journal 
More than two dozen people were evacuated from their homes this morning after construction workers hit a gas line in the Portland neighborhood, according to Capt. Ronel Brown of Louisville Fire & Rescue. About 9:30 a.m. workers for Tom Brown Construction Inc., who were working on 19th Street near Duncan Street, accidentally hit a two-inch plastic gas line, said Doug Bennett, a spokesman for Louisville Gas and Electric Co. The contractor, working for Louisville Water Co., was putting in a new water service for an apartment building in the area, said Barbara Crow a spokeswoman for the water company. Louisville Fire and Rescue evacuated homes within a block of the gas line break, Brown said. Residents, many in their pajamas, waited outside for about an hour and half while LG&E worked on installing a replacement gas line. Dominique Miller, who lives in a house at 303 N. 19th St., adjacent to the site of the break, said that she was sleeping when she heard a loud noise about 9:30 a.m. She said she evacuated a couple of minutes later. 

Trench accident
WALTHAM — Richard A. Kelly, 22 of Faribault, was injured Monday evening in a drainage trench accident. According to a Mower County Sheriff’s Office report, Kelly was part of a crew working for Hodgman Drainage at the new municipal sanitary sewer project at Waltham. The mishap occurred while the workers were digging a trench near 8 p.m. Monday, according to the report. He was first attended at the scene by a Hayfield Ambulance Service crew and then flown by Mayo One to Saint Mary’s Hospital, Rochester. 

Workers Rescued From Collapsed Trench; Two Men Trapped As Trench Walls Cave In
CHICAGO — A trench collapse on the city’s north side Tuesday afternoon trapped two city workers. Emergency workers succeeded in pulling both men from the trench in a methodical rescue effort, according to Tom LaPorte, with the Chicago Water Department. Both rescued workers were taken by ambulance to Illinois Masonic Hospital. Three ambulances were initially called to a construction site near Wilson and Kedzie avenues following the collapse of the walls of the trench in which the men were working. The workers were reportedly buried up to their waists and unable to remove themselves from the trench. Firefighters trained in subterrain rescue have begun working to extract the workers. NBC5 reported that the effort was complicated by the threat of further collapse of the already compromised trench walls. 

Gas Main Leaking, Local Roads Closed
A ruptured gas line along Highway 124 in Gwinnett County shut down traffic between Lenora Church Road and Ashworth Lake Road Monday afternoon. A construction crew severed the line about 10 a.m. Monday, authorities say. The accident resulted in the evacuation of about 200 people at a nearby medical complex. A 300 foot hotzone is being maintained, while authorities have yet to confirm when the leak will be repaired and the closed roads reopened. Gwinnett Fire, Hazmat, and Atlanta Light and Gas crews were called to the scene.

Gas leak forces Miromar evacuation 
reported by Jessica Ritter
ESTERO, August 8, 2003 — Thousands of people doing some rainy-day shopping at the Miromar Outlets had to be evacuated just before 11:30 a.m. Friday after a construction crew ruptured a natural gas line. Business returned to normal by early afternoon, thanks to crews that controlled the leak and Mother Nature, whose strong winds helped dissipate the gas. A worker from an electric company broke through the pip with a backhoe. Greg Hughes was cooking inside Wallaby Joe’s when he says he smelled the leak. “The restaurant filled up immediately. We had the back door open and the gas leak’s 20 feet away,” Hughes said. Construction worker Steve Denton was even closer. “You just hear it rushing out of the pipe,” Denton said. “It was under the ground when he put its forks in and hit it. He ran and I ran and just told everybody to get out of the building.” The 16,000 square foot expansion project is about half way complete. But all work came to a halt as firefighters evacuated the entire complex. Mall managers say nasty weather early Friday pulled thousands of people indoors to shop. And although it hurt business, they say the evacuation was necessary. Shopper Claire Merchant agreed. “I think it’s better to be safe than sorry, especially when you’ve got children,” she said. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is reportedly investigating the incident. The electric company, Current Electric, had no comment on the accident. 

Man freed from collapsed trench
By Associated Press Saturday, August 09, 2003 – ANCHORAGE 
An industrial accident Thursday night left a man trapped in a trench for about three hours Thursday near Eagle River. Homeowner Forest Crane was working a 9-deep trench behind his mobile home about six miles up Eagle River Road when the trench collapsed. “He was covered up to about mid-thigh. There were a lot of rocks and stuff around him. He just couldn’t move,” said firefighter and paramedic Ward Hepper told KTUU-TV. About 20 firefighters from the Anchorage Fire department’s special trench rescue unit responded. They used plywood to stabilize the sides of the banks before they climbed down to rescue the man. “They used the air system in the trench rescue, shored everything up, made everything safe and clean, got down in the bottom and just had to keep digging. Finally got him loose,” Hepper said. “There was a lot of water in the bottom of the trench, along with the dirt, so it was kind of like an Inlet-mud rescue inside a trench rescue.” Hepper said one part of the bank had a crack in it. “When the cars were driving, or the heavy trucks were driving on Eagle River Road, it was making the crack move. That’s why we had to stabilize everything so it didn’t cave in.” 

UPDATE Contractor Fined For Deadly Trench Accident; OSHA Says Company Failed To Train Workers
A Warwick-based contractor is facing almost $90,000 in fines stemming from a February trench collapse that killed a worker. Walter Gorski, 33, of East Providence, was working on an 11-foot-deep sewer line in Woonsocket when the walls collapsed. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the accident could have been prevented had Gorski’s employer supplied proper protection against cave-ins. OSHA said the workers had not been trained to recognize trenching hazards. Gorski worked for Greenwood Plumbing, Heating and Solar Inc. The plumbing contractor did business as Mr. Rooter. 

Worker finally freed after 5 hours in mud
By Robert Perez Sentinel Staff Writer August 6, 2003
SANFORD — Kelly Gibson probably didn’t think twice about climbing out of the hole he and his co-workers had dug in the alley behind Dorothy Brazzell’s house. He had climbed out of hundreds of holes and trenches during his 15 years with the Sanford utility department. But Tuesday he found his leg stuck fast in the trench. The wet, heavy mud at the bottom clung to him like a leech, and there was little the 39-year-old could do to free himself. When Gibson’s co-workers jumped in to dig him out, they accidentally broke a line that began to fill the hole with water and quickly turned what was an embarrassing situation into a five-hour rescue drama. Dozens of firefighters from Sanford and Seminole County worked against time and the elements to free Gibson. Victims in trench collapses can die from compression injuries caused by tons of dirt and sand pressing on their extremities. The longer they’re trapped, the greater the danger. But this situation was different. Rescuers were faced with pumping out hundreds of gallons of mud from around Gibson, who was buried up to his waist. But the more they pumped out, the more mud filled the hole, said Stan Human, Seminole County battalion chief. Crews who worked in and around the hole behind 807 Rosalia Drive made little progress against the thick, black muck that held Gibson captive about 6 feet below the surrounding dirt and grass of the alleyway. Even after three hours of feverish work by rescuers using shovels, 5-gallon buckets, a backhoe and a truck with a giant vacuum cleaner, Gibson was no closer to being free. Efrem Session, who looked on from a fenced yard about 20 feet from the trench, pleaded with firefighters. “Hey boss man, make sure you get him out,” he called out. “That’s my brother man.” Session said he has known Gibson for 10 years, about as long as his sister, Felicia, has dated Gibson. “I know he’s scared and probably anxious to get out of there,” he said. As the rescue wore on into its fourth hour, the weather began to work against firefighters. Dark clouds moved in from the northwest, and heavy rain and lightning came down by 4:30 p.m. That’s when rescuers changed their tactics. Instead of continuing the losing battle to pump the mud out, they decided to dig a deeper hole next to Gibson and let the mud fall away from him. Felicia Session looked on nervously and complained of a pounding headache as a backhoe dug deep into the wet ground next to her fiancé. She tried to joke with friends and family but admitted she was scared and anxious. “I just want to see him,” she said. But she didn’t worry as much about how Gibson was handling himself. Two years ago, Gibson nearly lost part of his foot in a lawn mower accident, but he remained calm throughout the incident, Felicia Session said. “He’s a hero because he doesn’t panic,” she said. Shortly after 6 p.m., a light rain resumed over the rescue, then suddenly Gibson was being pulled out. A cheer erupted from the crowd of onlookers as his arms, then head, came into view. Soon Gibson’s nearly limp body was being put onto a medical stretcher for the trip to Central Florida Regional Hospital. He showed little emotion, but his face was a portrait of exhaustion and relief. Calls of, “God is good” came from the crowd with the refrain, “All the time.” Dr. Todd Husty, Seminole County’s medical director, said Gibson was doing remarkably well. Gibson’s vital signs were monitored throughout the five-hour ordeal and remained steady. “If I were his doctor, I’d send him home tonight,” Husty said. 

Worker stuck in chest-high mud rescued 
By MARCIA LANGHENRY Atlanta Journal-Constitution Staff Writer 
A construction worker stuck in chest-high mud was rescued by firefighters at noon today. The man’s identity was not released but he was not injured, said Forsyth County Fire Chief Danny Bowman. The construction site is behind Lowe’s on Peachtree Parkway in the Johns Creek area of south Forsyth County near the Fulton County border. Bowman said he was not certain how the accident happened. There was a large backhoe in the area, he said, and he guessed it appeared to the construction worker that the ground was more stable than it was. When he stepped off the backhoe, he became trapped when he sunk in the thick mud up to his chest. The rescue took 35 minutes and involved 15 firefighters. Bowman said they laid out an extension ladder to form a solid base to work from, then surrounded the man with plywood. Firefighters then stood on the plywood and manually pulled the man upward and free of the suction created by the mud and water. The ground is saturated from recent rains, Bowman said. On Sunday, the county received 2 inches and recently set a record for rainfall in July. 

Man Killed When Trench Collapses
(LOUISVILLE, July 29th, 2003, 2:30 p.m.) — A Senninger Plumbing Company employee was killed Tuesday in a trench cave-in on Dixie Highway. Pleasure Ridge Park Fire Chief Doug Atwell says the man never had a chance when the dirt walls fell just after noon. Atwell says the man was repairing a water line under a Circuit City parking lot. Crews were still trying to unearth the man’s body from more than a ton of dirt late Tuesday afternoon, and were expected to continue working well into the evening. 
It’s the first fatal trench collapse in Jefferson County in the past 10 years.

Construction work ruptures gas line; No evacuations at any Eisenhower Drive businesses.
By NANCY POSTER Evening Sun Reporter 
Friday, July 25, 2003 – An unsuspecting worker digging a post hole behind the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Eisenhower Drive struck a natural gas line Thursday morning, sending a hissing rush of vapors into the air. The gas leak did not force the evacuation of the department store, said assistant manager Ron Kerlin. The line that was struck feeds the south side of Eisenhower Drive westward to the Rex TV store at 381 Eisenhower Drive, said Hanover firefighter Jeff Spielman. Officials at Giant Food Store and the Wendy’s and the Red Lobster restaurants said they experienced no problems related to the gas outage. Because the line is fed from two sources, workers had to dig in two locations to finally shut off the flow of gas, he said. That was accomplished by 11:30 a.m., nearly an hour and a half after the 9:53 a.m. accident. Columbia Gas workers arrived at 10:14 a.m. and had the leak stopped by 11:30 a.m., said company spokesman Rob Boulware Thursday night. There was no interruption of gas service to any other customers in the vicinity, he said. An easterly wind carried the gas plume away from the store where it dissipated over Broadway, Spielman said. “There was great concern over the necessity of it,” Spielman said of the possibility of an evacuation of the retailer. While the leak occurred at the rear of the store, behind a storage area, meters were set up inside the store to monitor the air. Part of the store’s air handling system was shut down to prevent gas from seeping into the store, Spielman said.  “We were sent out here to fix damage done by an 18-wheeler truck to the fence,” said Ivan King, a worker with the contractor, which he declined to identify. The workers were using a Bobcat tractor to install a post that had held a “do not enter” sign, he said. “While digging the hole, we happened to find a gas main,” King said. Immediately, the workers saw a plume of vapors rise and heard the hissing of gas. They found the store’s manager and called 911. “It was just a tough situation,” King said. Despite the presence of emergency officials outside, it was business as usual inside the Wal-Mart. “The store was not affected in any way, shape or form,” Kerlin said, adding the store’s concern was for its sales associates and customers. Two or three store managers monitored the situation outside the store throughout the emergency, he said.

Trench-digging yields gusher on Willamette campus
TARA MCLAIN Statesman Journal July 23, 2003
Marigolds at Willamette University got more than a sprinkle Tuesday when a facilities worker hit a city water main while digging a trench. A geyser of muddy water erupted from a 6-inch pipe running under the lawns between Waller Hall and State Street, just south of the state Capitol. The hourlong gusher caused no damage, although two nearby university buildings lost water service for a short time. Tom Neal, Willamette’s facilities director, said the work crew knew the location of the pipe but thought it was buried deeper. The crew was digging shallow trenches for an irrigation system near the Star Trees with a trencher machine. The trencher’s rotating blades clipped off an old, capped connection that was closer to the surface than the rest of the pipe, which was not damaged, said Bud Armstrong, a maintenance foreman with the city’s Public Works Department. Armstrong estimated that the pipe was installed between 1910 and 1920. The city had recently surveyed the area for other construction work nearby and had marked where the pipe was, Armstrong said. “It’s one of those where they knew it was here, but they were hoping it wasn’t that shallow,” he said. Although there was no estimate of the water loss, it was nothing compared with the 2 million gallons that spewed from a broken 24-inch main downtown in late May. That break caused thousands of dollars in damage to vehicles and businesses near Liberty and Ferry streets SE. Tara McLain can be reached at (503) 399-6705. 

Worker dies after Santee Cooper trench collapse
(Georgetown-AP) July 18, 2003 – A man who had been on a construction job for two weeks was killed when dirt collapsed on him while he was digging a trench at Santee Cooper’s Winyah Generating Station. Georgetown County Coroner Kenny Johnson said 30-year-old Scott May was suffocated Wednesday. He had been working with North Charleston-based Landmark Construction after being laid off from Georgetown Steel on June 29th. The crew was building a foundation for a structure at the power plant on US Highway 17. May became the fifth person killed in a construction accident since December in Horry and Georgetown counties and the second person working construction to die this week. 

Construction digging creates 2 gas leaks; Pipes shifting over time may have contributed to the accident, officials say.
By Ebony M. Moore Contributor to The Shorthorn by Kateryna Ivanova The Shorthorn staff
Two gas leaks caused fire fighters to block off a segment of Cooper Street from UTA Boulevard to Division Street Tuesday afternoon. An eight-inch gap in the major gas line that goes through the city was discovered at the corner of Cooper and Main streets, said Battalion Chief David Stapp of Arlington Fire Department. The second, smaller leak occurred at Cooper and Abram streets and was much easier to repair, he added. The Arlington Fire Department evacuated several businesses in the area, including the Diamond Shamrock gas station at Cooper and Abram streets and the Parks and Recreation Building and Bobby Davis Bail Bonds at Cooper and Main streets. Officials said the accident was caused by a road construction crew working on the street. Workers were digging at the intersection of Cooper and Main streets when they cut the line for the first time, Stapp said. When it became impossible to work at the site due to the smell, they moved a block up the street, where they dug into the pipes again, he said. Stapp said he did not know what company hired the construction workers or who made the report about the gas leaks. Road maps distributed to the workers are not always accurate and can be up to 10 years old, said Lieutenant Randy Ingram, Arlington Fire Department public information officer. Ground tends to shift over the years and pipes are slowly displaced in one direction or another, he explained. “Obviously, they don’t have X-ray vision — they have to assume that there’s nothing below them, so they just start digging,” he said. Oncor Gas Company was in charge of the repair. Workers planned to expose the gas line, fit a clamp around and tighten it to stop the leak, Ingram said. They will come back later to mend the hole in the pipe. The line runs through the major parts of the city, providing gas to a number of businesses and households, he added, which is why the company does not want to shut it down. It would also take a long time to start the system back up — and that is too much work, he said. “Oncor has no idea how long it’s going to take,” Stapp said. “We have crews who are monitoring the surrounding area for accumulation of gas using gas monitors.” Stapp said the major issue facing repair crews is heat. The firemen have to be rotated every few minutes because they are wearing full fire gear, he explained. Hot weather, however, will not affect the gas, he added. Sergeant Richard Grimmett of the Arlington Police Department said traffic is usually light for the intersections, so no major road problems are expected. “Everything is pretty well-contained right now, and the repair crew is doing their job. [Oncor] does it all the time — they’re very professional,” he said. “But if they cause a spark while they’re trying to repair it, it can be catastrophic.”

Ditch cave-in claims worker; Limestone man killed; probe under way 
Tamara Sharman , The Daily Journal July 15, 2003 
Emergency personnel labored for more than seven hours to free the body of a young worker who became entombed when a ditch collapsed at the Kankakee Roper plant Monday. “Almost always these cases are asphyxia cases,” Kankakee County Coroner James Kelly said. “I think that he died very quickly, probably within minutes,” Kelly stated. An autopsy will be performed today, but Kelly expects the results will confirm that Barber asphyxiated when his body was compressed by the heavy, wet clay. OSHA is investigating the incident. At presstime it was unclear whom Barber was working for at the time of the deadly accident. But he was part of a crew that was tending to a leaking water or sewer pipe beneath the floor at the plant at 2207 W. Court St. The workers had removed concrete and dug a trench approximately eight to 10 feet deep, three feet wide and 12 feet long. “It appears that they did not shore the trench at all,” Kelly said of the workers. Barber was trapped when the trench collapsed. “He was 90 percent buried,” recalled Assistant Chief Ron Young of the Kankakee Fire Department. Firefighters were summoned to the old factory at 1:22 p.m. and arrived four minutes later, Capt. David Harmon said. Help also came from the Kankakee County Tactical Rescue Team, which consists of firefighters from area departments. Barber’s co-workers tried unsuccessfully to save him. The initial rescue efforts by Kankakee police and Kankakee firefighters also failed. Rescue workers were at risk from further collapse of the unstable trench, Harmon said. A concrete slab was then cut away and the sides of the trench were shored up to stabilize the area, according to firefighters. Then came the hours-long effort to free Barber. “It’s a very tedious, time-consuming effort,” Young said. The accident highlights the dangers inherent in trench labor. “An unprotected trench can collapse in under a second,” Harmon noted. Emergency personnel from Aroma Park, Bradley, Bourbonnais, Limestone, Kankakee Township and Limestone Township fire departments assisted. Kankakee County Sheriff’s Police also were at the scene. Young believes the response to the tragic accident shows the ability of area firefighters to work together in times of crisis. “It definitely demonstrates the need to have a well-trained tactical rescue team,” Young said. None of Barber’s co-workers was injured. A firefighter received a minor eye injury. Funeral arrangements for Nathan Barber are pending at the Kankakee chapel of Schreffler Funeral Homes. “Our sympathies and condolences go out to the family of the victim,” Young stated. 

Injured worker pulled from trench at KSU
By Abby Slutsky Special to the Beacon Journal
KENT – A construction worker installing underground pipe at Kent State University injured his back and had to be rescued from a trench at least 20 feet deep Friday. Police and fire departments from Kent and Ravenna worked quickly to get the man out of the trench. Rescue workers started an intravenous drip before securing him to a backboard that was attached to a backhoe by several ropes. At the top of the trench, the man was transferred to a gurney and wheeled to a waiting ambulance, which took him to Akron City Hospital. He was not immediately identified. The accident occurred shortly before 1 p.m. near Kent Hall by the university’s front campus. It was not known how the man was injured. Initially, rescue workers thought mud had fallen on the worker. However, Tom Euclid, director of architecture and engineering at the university, said that didn’t happen. Euclid said that the man twisted his back either while using a wheelbarrow or after being startled by a mudslide that occurred outside the trench. The injury occurred while the man was working in a safety box, which prevents the walls of the trench from caving in. 

Gas line broken by contractor snarls traffic 
Friday, July 11, 2003 By PRECIOUS PETTY The Express-Times 
BETHLEHEM — Downtown traffic slowed to a crawl for several hours Thursday after construction workers ruptured a high-pressure gas line at West Union Boulevard and Monocacy Street about 9:30 a.m. Emergency crews blocked part of West Union Boulevard between Third Avenue and New Street and part of Main Street between West Broad and Goepp streets while a UGI Corp. crew worked to repair the gas main. Homes and businesses along Monocacy Street between West Union Boulevard and Goepp Street and along West Union Boulevard between Conestoga and Main streets were evacuated from 9:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. as a safety precaution, said Fire Marshall Eugene Novak. A city contracted crew accidentally hit the main while digging trenches to install conduits for a traffic light at the intersection, said Director of Public Works Michael Alkhal. AJ Trunzo, Inc., the contractor working at the site, “did everything by the book,” Alkhal said. “They did what they could ahead of time to avoid hitting the gas main,” he said. A firefighter responding to another call saw a plume of gas rise from the main when he drove by the scene and immediately began isolating the intersection, Novak said. UGI spokesman Barry Wentzel said 28 area customers were left without service for a time after the gas main break. Service was expected to be restored by 3 p.m., Wentzel said early Thursday afternoon. Nearly 60 employees evacuated from Cigars International on Monocacy Street gathered at Monocacy and Goepp while they waited to find out if it was safe to return to work. “We’ve had power outages from storms before, but never an evacuation because of a gas leak,” said Victoria Esterly of Bethlehem, a Cigars International worker. Normally, workers package 2,000 boxes of cigars a day, but productivity is likely to suffer because of the nearly three-hour break in the work day, Esterly said. City Firefighter Ray Alpha was treated for a cut hand at Lehigh Valley Hospital-Muhlenberg and released, Novak said. A police officer overcome by gas fumes was taken to a local hospital for treatment and released, officials said. 

Worker rescued from trench 
By K. Manikandan 
CHENNAI JULY 12. Fire Service personnel today struggled to rescue a worker who was trapped after the mud caved in and fell on him while he was working to lay sewer lines at M.G.R. Nagar in K. K. Nagar this evening. The personnel rescued 25-year-old S. Maari, who got trapped when he stepped into the 20-foot ditch this afternoon, after a 90-minute effort. Maari, along with his younger brother, Muthu, and younger sister, Devi, and scores of other labourers, was working to lay the main 1200-mm diameter sewer lines on K.K.Salai, as part of Metrowater’s Clean Rivers Conservation Project. Maari entered the huge trench that was dug up to lay the main pipelines. He got down along with six others to measure the width of the levelled area, when mud from the western side of the trench caved in all of a sudden. While four of them managed to claw their way out and climb up the trench, Maari and two others still lay trapped. Noticing this, a local shopowner alerted the Fire Service personnel. While two others were immediatey pulled out of the trench, they found it difficult to retrieve Maari, as the wooden and iron beams placed on either sides to prevent the earth from falling into the trench, had also fallen on him, along with the mud. The Fire Service personnel from Ashok Nagar, who actually pulled out Maari, said that at first sight, they were able to notice Maari buried under the mud only till the waist. “He responded to our querries and even drank water”, one of the Firemen said. They first pulled out the wooden slabs and iron beams manually and also using cranes before clearing the mud gradually. Devi, the younger sister of Maari, said the family belonged to Tindivanam and that they had settled down in Chennai some years ago. Along with her two elder brothers, she too was working on this project for the past two weeks. She and her father, Subramani, a cobbler, having a shop near the accident spot, had to be consoled by other workers even as the rescue attempt was on. It was a relief for the personnel, policemen, other labourers and hundreds of on-lookers, when Maari was finally pulled out of the mud and taken in an ambulance. Scores of local residents who had gathered atop terraces cheered as the Firemen took away Maari on a stretcher. According to police officers, who confirmed that Maari was out of danger, investigations would be taken up and the contractor penalised for negligence if found guilty. The trench, dug up for a depth of 20-foot and a distance of 100-feet was barricaded and made out of bounds. Police used lathis to prevent curious youth from venturing close to the trench. This road with the trench is used by thousands of school students everyday, causing worry to the parents who send them by vans and autorickshaws.

Construction accident causes break in gas main 
The Associated Press 7/8/03 11:39 AM
IRON MOUNTAIN, Mich. (AP) — A crew worked Tuesday to fix a natural gas main that ruptured the previous day, prompting authorities to evacuate 10 businesses. Construction workers using earth-moving equipment accidentally broke open the gas main Monday morning, said John Austerberry, spokesman for Michigan Consolidated Gas Co., which owns the line. The eight-inch pipe carries gas that is pressurized to 150 pounds per square inch, making it a high-capacity main, Austerberry said. But enough gas remained in the system to prevent service interruptions, he said. Despite its pungent odor, the gas presented no health dangers to people in the area, he said. The evacuations were ordered to reduce risk of igniting the gas. The MichCon crew, based in Grand Rapids, was expected to finish repairs Tuesday afternoon. The evacuated businesses were to remain off-limits until then, Austerberry said.

Trench accident sends two to hospital
ORANGEDALE,N.S. (CP) – The collapse of a trench near Orangedale, Nova Scotia late Monday afternoon sent two construction workers to hospital with serious injuries. The mishap occurred on the Orangedale road, a short distance from the Trans Canada Highway in Inverness County. The two workers, employed by Blair S. Francis Construction, were initially taken to hospital in Baddeck and then air-lifted to Cape Breton Regional Hospital. Hospital spokesperson, Greg Boone, says they suffered multiple injuries, including fractures, and are now in fair condition. A spokesperson for the Department of Labour, Penny McCormick, says the department is investigating and ordered the contractor to backfill the trench to prevent any further accidents. 

Water Main Break Leaves Atchison Without Water
Damage to a water main left Atchison residents without drinking water for nearly 24 hours. Workers for an excavating company were installing a six-inch water main Monday when they accidentally cut into a 24-inch water main pipe. The accident prompted the city to immediately close down its water plant. The pipe is the only water source for Atchison from the Missouri River. The damage was repaired by early Tuesday, but residents weren’t able to use the water until about noon. They also were told to boil the water before consuming it because it will have extra chlorine for several hours. City Engineer Joe Drimmel says the excavators were using outdated maps of the water lines that don’t show the water main that was cut. 

Man trapped in mud: Franklin worker in hospital after ordeal on Northbridge project 
By Sara Withee / News Staff Writer Wednesday, July 2, 2003
NORTHBRIDGE — A Franklin construction worker whose legs were stuck in mud for nearly three hours yesterday was under medical evaluation for possible hypothermia last night, rescue officials said. Robert Giordano, 22, of 13 Skyline Drive, was taken to the University of Massachusetts Medical Center in Worcester yesterday morning after firefighters freed his legs from two feet of mud on the Riverdale Mills property, firefighters said. Giordano, employed by Lewis Concrete of Franklin, was laying a cement foundation for a 118,000-square-foot expansion of Riverdale Mills Corp. Giordano was working along a wall near the basement ceiling when he climbed down a ladder to the ground to retrieve some tools, Northbridge Fire Chief Gary Nestor said. The wall Giordano was working along borders a man-made water stream called a tailrace that serves an on-site hydropower operation, said property owner James Knott Sr. It reconnects with the Blackstone River about 500 feet from where Giordano was stuck in the mud. Giordano’s legs got stuck when when he stepped in a muddy area created by water spillover from the hydropower operation, Nestor said. Employees spent an hour trying to help Giordano negotiate his legs out of the mud, Nestor said. They then called Northbridge Fire Department for assistance at 8:10 a.m. Pulling Giordano’s legs free did little good except to cause him pain because the mud had created a strong suction, Nestor said. Other firefighter efforts, such as digging and trying to drain water from the ground with a Northbridge Public Works Sewer pump, were equally unsuccessful, Nestor said. “The thing just kept filling up with water, more and more and more so that’s what made it difficult,” Nestor said. Nestor finally called in the Southern District 14 Technical Rescue Team. The group of firefighters from Southborough, Ashland, Milford and Hopkinton is trained for rescues in trenches and small spaces. About 16 members of the group responded around 10 a.m., said Ashland Fire Lt. Scott Boothby, the district’s team coordinator. They found Giordano with one leg knee-deep in mud and the other leg covered up to the thigh. The rescue team stabilized the ground around the mud, then freed Giordano’s legs from the mud with a compressor and a soil pick — a tool that pushes air through a pipe, Boothby said. “Within ten minutes of us getting there, the patient was extricated from the mud and taken to the hospital,” Boothby said. By that time he was freed, Giordano was visibly bothered by the cool water temperature, Boothby said, though officials say he did not lose consciousness. “He was getting to the point that he was getting a little hypothermic,” Boothby said. Knott, who purchased the mill in 1979, is acting as general contractor for his company’s expansion, which started in May 2002 and scheduled for completion next September. He is expanding because his company, Riverdale Mills Corp., which manufactures wire-mesh lobster traps, has been growing since beginning production of “Wire Wall” security fences several years ago. Knott has clashed with the town over the expansion several times over the past year, first over a tax break the Board of Selectmen denied because it was requested after Knott began construction and over a $33,000 building permit fee. Knott has filed a lawsuit against the town over the fee, saying it is nearly 10 times the amount he was charged for a 1996 expansion approximately half the size of the current project. The Harvard graduate has powered his mill with hydrolectric turbines, feeding off the Blackstone River, since 1985. “It saves me about $100,000 a year (in electricity) that I don’t have to buy,” Knott said. Knott said he recently shut the turbines down for several months during construction. The construction site was completely dry before he turned off the operation. Yesterday’s accident gives him no reason to turn the operation off again, he said. Giordano could have avoided problems by simply relaxing and slowly pulling his legs from the mud, Knott said. “Every one in the world does know or should know your body is only half the density of quicksand,” Knott said. “You float in it.” 

N.C. firefighters rescue worker buried in ditch; Labor officials investigating site incident
The Associated Press
GOLDSBORO, N.C. – A man helping to install a sewer tap was buried for 20 minutes Friday morning when the ditch in which he was working collapsed. Firefighters who answered the call for help found only an arm sticking out of the mud when they arrived at the construction site. Fire Chief Bobby Greenfield said rescuers slid an oxygen mask to the trapped worker, so he could breathe while they dug him out. The trapped man’s arm was numb because of the pressure on it from the dirt, assistant fire chief Jerry Langston said. But he was breathing fine when he was unearthed. “I feel like he will be OK,” he said. “The guys did a great job getting him out.” The man was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital. The hospital and the fire department did not release his name or condition. The worker was installing pipe to a private residence, Greenfield said. A sewer tap is where pipes from a house line connect with a city sewer line. No one else was in the ditch when it collapsed. Greenfield said the area around the ditch was damp, and that could have caused the walls to cave in. City plumbing inspector Russell Lawrence said the contractor working on the site was Mark Burlingame. Efforts to find a telephone number for him were unsuccessful. Greenfield said officials from the N.C. Department of Labor were investigating the accident, and he didn’t know if charges would be filed. Labor spokeswoman Dolores Quesenberry said the department would not comment until it finishes investigating. 

Excavating Crew Causes Manchester Gas Leak
BY KRISTA PRIMROSE, Times-Union Staff Writer
NORTH MANCHESTER – Natural gas clouded North Manchester when a Bunn Inc. excavating crew accidentally hit an 8-inch steel gas main line around 3 p.m. Monday. The gas main, which provides service to a large section of North Manchester, began releasing gas after a bulldozer struck a service “T” at the corner of Main and Mill streets. Gas rushed out of the hole, sounding like a waterfall, until 9 p.m., when a properly equipped NIPSCO crew arrived on the scene. North Manchester Fire Department was notified of the leak about 3 p.m. and contacted NIPSCO immediately. At 3:17 p.m. a second call requesting immediate assistance was made and minutes later, homes and businesses within four blocks of the leak were evacuated. NIPSCO service trucks arrived at 5 p.m. but found that, due to the size of the leak, special equipment was needed. A welding crew from Monticello was needed to stop gas flow to the line in both directions. The gas flow was finally stopped around 9:30 p.m. and workers finished repairing the main about :30 a.m. today. Larry Graham, NIPSCO spokesman, said isolating the gas flow and shutting off only the damaged section was in the town’s best interest. Though the leak could have been stopped immediately, by disconnecting service to the line, a large portion of North Manchester would have been without gas services until the line was fixed. The Bunn excavating site superintendent, who declined to give his name, said the line was supposed to be abandoned, thus accommodating his team’s work. He declined to state whose responsibility it was to ensure the line was inactive. According to Graham, the gas line was on NIPSCO’s schedule for lowering next week. This change in depth was planned to accommodate digging for the CVS construction. Estimates regarding how much gas escaped are not yet available. No long-term effects are expected from the leak. 

Punctured gas line leaves many without 
June 21, 2003
Two major Camarillo retail centers and hundreds of residents were without gas Friday as Southern California Gas Co. employees worked to restore service to about 1,000 customers after a line was struck by a construction worker. The stores of Target Center, Camarillo Outlets and Old Town Camarillo were among those whose gas was cut off when the worker hit a 6-inch line while installing a storm drain at 21 Lewis Road, near Highway 101, in conjunction with a highway project. Shortly before 1 p.m., fire officials got a call about the break. While workers tried to isolate where the line was damaged, the company shut off gas south of the freeway from Lewis Road west to Las Posas Road. Traffic on Ventura Boulevard was redirected. Gas Co. officials expected employees to work all night Friday repairing the line. Tags with a phone number to call to have service restored were left on doors where occupants were not home. Anyone who still doesn’t have gas service today should call (800) 427-2200. 

Water main ruptures in city of Shasta Lake 
Scott Mobley Record Searchlight June 20, 2003 — 2:12 a.m.
Shasta Lake officials asked residents to squelch their water use Thursday while crews fixed a ruptured main. Some 30 households around the Montana Street leak went without water much of the day. Workers had to cut them off to replace about a foot of severed steel pipe. The leak hit the city’s 50-year-old main transmission line, which brings in water from the west, said Chuck Robinson, water treatment supervisor. “It was kind of a fluke,” Robinson said. “We get leaks all the time. This one just happened to be in a bad spot.” The Bella Vista Water District shipped Shasta Lake some water to help it survive until crews finished repairing the line around 3 p.m. The two jurisdictions help each other out in emergencies under an agreement inked during the early-1990s drought. The pipe ruptured shortly after 3 a.m. Thursday. The city lost about 120,000 gallons of water over the next 12 hours, Robinson estimates. The city of Shasta Lake typically consumes 4 million to 5 million gallons of water per day. Jose Castro, a lead worker for the city’s public works department, blamed the leak on construction damage. A grader had scratched the pipe where it burst, he said.

Workers survive cave-in 
By Barb Ickes 
A dramatic rescue that enlisted some 30 workers from a nearby bridge construction project ended with one victim helping save the other. Two workers from Peoria-based Custom Underground were standing above a hole in a ditch just south of the Rock River bridge in Moline while laying cable Wednesday afternoon when the ground suddenly gave way. Both were sent tumbling into the hole with dirt pouring in behind them. One of the men was buried only to his knees and was able to quickly escape, but the soil completely buried the second man. Neither victim was immediately identified by police. The 2:15 p.m. accident occurred at precisely the right place, though — just yards from an Interstate 74 bridge construction site where a crew of workers, trained in excavation rescue, heard screams for help and rushed to the collapsed hole. As workers from Civil Contractors dug furiously at the dirt with shovels and hoes, the victim who had escaped the hole climbed into a track hoe and began removing dirt with the precision of a tablespoon. Meanwhile, workers from Civil Contractors laid plywood on the roadway and began cutting pieces to fit into the hole, creating walls to hold back the dirt. Others held a sheet over the hole to protect the victim from the afternoon sun while employees of the nearby Montana Jacks restaurant kept the rescuers supplied with cold water. Portions of 27th Street were barricaded by police during the nearly three-hour rescue effort, fearing the weight and vibration of passing vehicles would cause further collapse. The street closing forced drivers to find alternate routes in an area already heavily congested by the I-74 construction project near the Quad-City International Airport. At one point, Civil Contractors workers rushed a power saw into the hole when they realized the victim’s foot was stuck in an underground pipe. Nearby, a MedForce helicopter landed on a dime at the Interstate 280 overpass, waiting to transport the victim to a nearby hospital. Throughout the ordeal, the victim reportedly continued to communicate with his rescuers, who took turns holding an intravenous fluids bag over the hole. Bradley Forret, the president of Laborers’ Local 309 in Rock Island, rushed to the scene after hearing about the accident. He initially feared the victims were from Civil Contractors, many of whom are members of his union. “This is what all that training paid for,” he said, his voice trembling. “We get to send two guys home to their wives and kids today. “All these men just jumped in, no questions asked,” he said. “They heard them calling out for help and dropped everything they were doing.” As firefighters and paramedics stood ready with a stretcher, Forret crossed himself and looked to the ominous clouds moving toward the rescue site. “It’s truly amazing, these workers standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the rain coming,” he said, the emotion obvious in his voice. “It makes you want to get up again in the morning, doesn’t it? “Rain could really cause some problems here,” he said nervously. “But they’re getting close, got to be getting close.” As the helicopter fired up its engines, a body board was lowered into the hole. Moments later, the board and the victim emerged. And as the chopper rose from the roadway, the first raindrops fell. 

Work crews strike gas line
News Herald reports
CLAY TOWNSHIP — A construction crew broke a gas line on Smith Drive north of Genoa city limits Monday afternoon. Bergman Paving was working in the 1500 block of Smith Drive, and about 1:30 p.m. Clay Township police received a call that workers struck a gas line, according to police reports. The Allen-Clay Joint Fire District was called and checked out the scene. No one was evacuated, and the gas company was called to repair the damage, police reported. 

Worker Trapped In Sewer Pipe 
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A dramatic rescue to free a construction worker trapped in a sewer pipe ended well Wednesday and the victim could be out of the hospital later today. The construction worker was working on a sewer line on Northwest 6th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale when his foot was sucked into the sand. Rescue crews and coworkers spent nearly two hours digging him out, at times digging by hand. For some coworkers the accident serves as a reminder of how dangerous the job can be. “Everyday we come to work and you know you think about it — it’s safety. Safety first man. It’s got to be safety first and this is something that just happened in the spur of the moment and you think it’s not such a deep hole — that it won’t happen and it happens,” said one worker. Once freed, the man was taken to Broward General Medical Center for treatment. Luckily he suffered only a sore back. 

Construction Mishap Traps 2 Workers in Pit 
By Karl B. Hille The Winchester Star 
Two workmen were trapped in a hole by the boom of a 4-ton industrial forklift Wednesday when the vehicle’s body slipped into an adjacent pit. Lt. Kevin Yost of the Winchester Fire and Rescue Department said the men were freed by quick-thinking coworkers and escaped serious harm. “They were unpinned when we got here,” he said. “A couple of other workers raised the arm a little on the lift and freed them.” The men, who have not been identified, were taken to Winchester Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. Yost said they were conscious and talking when they were transported. A worker who declined to give his name walks away from the scene of a construction accident Wednesday on Jubal Early Drive. This 4-ton industrial forklift slipped into a trench, causing the front lift to tilt down and trap two men in an adjacent pit. The men were spared from serious injuries thanks to the quick-thinking rescue efforts of their coworkers. A WMC nursing supervisor would not comment on their condition, citing a federal patient confidentiality law. The law allows hospitals to provide information about patients who sign confidentiality waivers. However, Valley Health System, which operates WMC, enacted a stricter policy denying all patient information to representatives of the media. The men were working around the foundation of the future Children of America building, a child day-care and learning center in the 600 block of West Jubal Early Drive. John Reines, a foreman with Melco Inc., said they were setting a 6-inch pipe through the foundation to feed the building’s sprinkler system. “As far as how all this happened, the only people that know are the two people that were in there,” Reines said, pointing to the hole where they were trapped. The men work for subcontractor John Morrison Excavation, he said. A John Morrison manager at the scene said he could not identify the men unless authorized by his supervisor.

Worker rescued from Lauderdale trench cave-in
BY ASHLEY 
After a massive, 90-minute rescue effort, a construction worker was freed from a sewer trench that collapsed on him Wednesday morning as he worked to lay a new sewer pipe in Fort Lauderdale. The worker, whose name has not been released, apparently suffered a broken ankle, and was taken by ambulance to Broward General Medical Center for treatment. An employee of Miami-based Astaldi Construction, the worker was inside a trench at the 800 block of Northwest Sixth Avenue at about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday when mid-morning rain caused the trench to cave in, trapping him, said Fire Rescue Battalion Chief William Findlan. He tried to push the sand back, creating a vacuum that sucked him deeper into the four-foot-deep hole, eventually covering him waist-deep in wet sand. ”It was a bad situation, but he was never in any danger,” said Findlan. “The water wasn’t going to rise above his head. But there was a lot of pressure on his body.” Within five minutes of receiving a 911 call from other construction workers on site, Fort Lauderdale Fire-Rescue dispatched 21 paramedics and rescue specialists. Fire-Rescue water pumps sucked the water from the trench while a front-end loader dug a deeper hole nearby to help drain the water. ”The pumps and hole helped because for a while the mud would slide back into the trench, which just made our job harder,” Findlan said. Covered in mud and sweating profusely, rescuers hooked up an intravenous line and separately administered nitrous oxide. ”He was in a great deal of pain, so we gave him something to ease that,” said Findlan. When the man was finally pulled from the hole and placed on a stretcher, cheers erupted among emergency workers and a crowd of onlookers. ”He wasn’t saying a whole lot,” said Shawn Levine, a Fire-Rescue paramedic who had been on the scene since the 911 dispatch. “He looked like he was going to be all right though.” Tom McCormick, the program director of the Fort Lauderdale utility unit on the scene said trench collapses are not unusual. Astaldi stopped operations for the day, he added, to emphasize to its workers the importance of following safety rules while performing trench work. ”To be caught by the rain is something that is part of the job,” he said. “We make sure everyone knows the rules and are quick to respond if things look dangerous.” McCormick said he is unsure if there was anything specific the worker could have done to avoid getting trapped. Bobby Day, an Astaldi construction worker who witnessed the accident, said he and his co-workers fear accidents like this. ”You wake up every morning and hope that it doesn’t happen and then it happens,” he said. “It was bad. When you come in you’ve got to think, safety first. Always.” 

Co-workers free man trapped in trench 
A 22-year-old West Virginia man was injured Tuesday when he was trapped in a ditch on Old National Pike in Donegal Township. Richard Charnock of Valley Grove was taken by helicopter to UPMC-Presbyterian hospital, Pittsburgh, where he was in good condition Tuesday, according to a hospital spokesman. Donegal Township police said Charnock was trapped in the ditch about 10 a.m. while he was installing a sewer line along the road. It was Charnock’s second day on the job with Terra Excavating Inc., which was installing the line for Interstate Trailer Park. Charnock had been removed from the ditch by co-workers before rescue workers arrived. 

Trench Collapses, Kills Worker; Man Dies At Scene
POSTED: 12:20 p.m. PDT June 9, 2003
DIAMOND BAR, Calif. — A trench collapsed and buried a worker Monday as crews were building a retaining wall at a gated community in Diamond Bar, authorities said. The man died at the scene of the accident that occurred in the 2600 block of Rocky Trail Road about 8 a.m., said Capt. Mark Savage of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Construction crews were working in the yard of a home when the excavation collapsed upon the man, trapping him, Savage said. Emergency crews, including an Urban Search and Rescue Team, worked to remove the body from the trench. 

Construction Accident May Delay I-40/West Hills Interchange
T-Dot Officials say construction on the I-40/West Hills Interchange could be delayed after a construction accident stopped work at Kingston Pike and Buckingham Road. About 8:00 Tuesday morning, workers from Tri-State drilling were installing utility poles when their machinery hit some sort of contaminated material. State agencies are investigating and have halted operations at this site until further notice. A Tri-State employee is being treated for minor burns to his eyes and face.

Explosion shuts I-74
Star report June 11, 2003
Indiana State Police temporarily closed off a portion of I-74 on the Southeastside today after a piece of highway construction equipment struck a gas pipeline and set off an explosion. Police said the accident occurred about 11:30 a.m. west of Post Road. No injuries were reported. However, a 16-mile stretch of I-74 between Ind. 9 and I-465 was closed to traffic until about 1:30 p.m. while emergency workers worked to shut down the gas line. Gas had continued to feed a fire that was centered on the construction equipment, which one neighbor and State Police described as similar to a trenching machine. “At about 300 or 400 feet, you could feel the warmth of the fire,” said Brian Neary, who lives in the 3100 block of South Franklin Road. Neary said the trencher appeared to be a machine being used in the reconstruction of the eastbound lanes of I-74. “They were digging probably four or five feet below the surface level,” he said. Joy Heath, a 79-year-old retiree who lives in the 3100 block of South Franklin Road, said she heard a series of booms punctuated by the loudest blast. “When that explosion happened there wasn’t no mistaking that,” said Heath. “It was big around and solid red, that orangey red. It was solid flames, just solid flames.” She said she called her son for help, but it was a Franklin Township firefighter who came to her door and evacuated her to a safer location a few doors down. Heath, who uses a cane, said she would have driven herself to safety – but the electricity went off and her garage door wouldn’t open for her to use her car. “It was quite scary, yes. The flames were shooting so high in the air it was frightening.” Indiana Department of Transportation spokeswoman Jessica Stevens said she did not know what type of machinery was involved. State Police Sgt. Ray Poole said the gas line was an older line that apparently wasn’t detected by construction workers. Traffic already was restricted to two-way travel on the westbound lanes during the reconstruction. Stevens said westbound traffic was diverted north on Ind. 9 through Greenfield to I-70.

Construction worker injured by 1,800 lbs. bucket
6/3/2003 3:20 PM By: Associated Press
(THOMASVILLE) — A Burlington man was critically injured at a construction site when an 1800 lbs. bucket fell on him. Officials say Felix Ortiz was installing new sewer lines for the area on Monday as part of a crew with Carl Norris Construction of Burlington. A worker noticed that a bucket had swung loose from an excavator and was falling into the trench. Ortiz was unable to move out of the way, and the bucket hit him in the head, fell onto his legs and pinned him in the trench. When EMS workers arrived, the construction crew had lifted the bucket off Ortiz, but rescuers weren’t able to remove him without the trench collapsing. Rescuers spent two hours bracing the trench before Ortiz could be removed. Ortiz was taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem. Rescue workers say he had injuries to his head and both legs, including a fracture near his ankle. 

Worker found dead after trench collapses
Associated Press
RIO GRANDE CITY — A 24-year-old worker installing water lines died after the trench he was in collapsed, trapping him under an 8-foot-deep pile of dirt and rock for nearly 10 hours. Noe Cepeda Vela was alone in the trench along U.S. 83 just east of Rio Grande City when the 10-foot-high walls collapsed about 3 p.m. today, authorities said. His co-workers called 911. Justice of the Peace Dela Cruz pronounced Vela dead at about 7:15 p.m, after the body was unearthed enough for paramedics to check for vital signs. Crews with the Starr County Sheriff’s Department and the Rio Grande City Fire Department finally pulled Vela from the rubble about 11:30 p.m. Monday. The search was delayed while rescuers tried to reinforce the trench walls to prevent them from collapsing again. Vela, of Rio Grande City, was working for MF Site Construction when the trench collapsed. MF Site Construction did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press. Rio Grande City is 70 miles northwest of Harlingen. 

Trench collapses, buries construction worker; Emergency teams on scene into the evening
By Shanna McCord and Moshay Simpson UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS May 29, 2003
RAMONA – A construction worker apparently suffocated yesterday afternoon when a trench collapsed and buried him while he was working on a sewer line, authorities said. The accident happened about 2 p.m. on a vacant lot between two homes on 11th Street near San Vicente Road. Rescue crews from the California Department of Forestry and the Santee Fire Department late yesterday were hoping to find the man alive. All of the digging was being done by hand, CDF Capt. Tom MacPherson said. “We’ve been filling up little buckets.” The man’s body was recovered around 9 p.m. The victim, an employee of Waples Backhoe, was with a crew digging a sewer line that is to extend from 11th Street to 10th Street, McPherson said. The trench is 14 feet deep. A representative from the Ramona Municipal Water District said the contractor had recently obtained the permits to begin construction on the line that is to join the public sewer system. The private line is being built to district standards,” said Tom Brammel, a spokesman for the district. A boy, 13, walking home from Olive Pierce Middle School said he saw “a bunch of cops, a few fire trucks and ambulances and a bunch of people trying to calm” a woman at the scene. Other agencies involved in the attempted rescue included the Ramona Fire Department, the Sheriff’s Department and a crisis management team from Poway. 

Construction workers hurt in blast; Explosion forces evacuation of homes 
By Peggy Breister the reporter 
A natural gas explosion and fire Tuesday afternoon in the Town of Taycheedah sent two Green Bay construction workers to the hospital and forced an evacuation of several homes in a nearby subdivision. The men, Todd C. Degeneffe, 35, of Green Bay and James S. Herman, 54, of Gillett work for Ronet Construction of Green Bay. They were transported by Mount Calvary Ambulance and Fond du Lac Fire Department Ambulance to St. Agnes Hospital with significant burns, said Lt. Rick Olig of the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Department. Both men were listed in fair condition this morning at St. Agnes Hospital. A back hoe operated by an employee of the sewer utility company struck and broke a 2-inch gas main about 1 p.m. on Abler Road near Park Ridge Court, Olig said. The company is installing a new sanitary sewer line for St. Peter Sanitary District. Ronet is a subcontractor working for the project’s main contractor, Kruczek of Green Bay. “As construction workers at ground level were attempting to clamp it off, the gas ignit ed and there was an explosion,” Olig said. Two other workers in the trench were not injured. About 120 homes were without natural gas for about two hours while the line was repaired by Alliant Energy crews. When Town of Calumet firefighters arrived, flames were leaping 8 to 10 feet out of the four-foot wide by 12-foot deep trench, said Fire Chief Lee Gilgenbach. The injured men had already been removed, he said. “From our standpoint, the gas flames coming out of the trench were a good thing because then we know exactly where the gas is coming from,” Gilgenbach said. “If it hadn’t touched off and started on fire, we’d never know where the gas is and then any little spark anywhere could start an explosion,” he said. “The two individuals in the trench that were injured were unlucky. We were lucky because we were able to identify the source.” Firefighters were on the scene until about 3:30 p.m. Gilgenbach said he doesn’t know what ignited the gas from the line that was about 30 inches below ground. “It could be something very little, next to nothing,” he said. Town of Calumet was assisted by Mount Calvary firefighters. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to inspect the site today and investigate the accident. 

Worker is buried alive when dirt caves in; Burton man killed when walls collapsed
By Taryn Asher
Burton — (05/21/03)–An 18-year-old Burton man died in a construction site accident. Michael Meshraky was killed in Owosso Tuesday when the ground caved in on him. ABC12’s Taryn Asher had more of the details. Meshraky works for his family business, S&M Building and Remodeling. Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, he was at a site, working to dig a sewer line when the dirt walls collapsed, burying him alive. Mershaky’s coworker quickly directed emergency crews to his construction site on Arrow head Lane in Owosso. Firefighters worked to dig Mershaky out and rushed him to the hospital, but it was too late. Mershaky’s grandmother and the rest of his family want to know what caused the cave in. “Becasue of the depth of the trench, which was approximatley 9 feet, my understanding there is a box safety device lowered into the trench to protect a worker from a cave-in such as this and there were no such devices in the trench,” said Shiawassww County Sheriff Jon Wilson. That’s why Wilson says state workplace safety investigators has been called in. S&M Building and Remodeling in Burton and Reiner Wedel Custom Homes out of Corunna are being investigated. With 25 years experience, Shiawassee County Drain Commissioner Bernard Butcher says in his opinion the dirt slopes at the site were too steep. “There’s certain areas you need to be very careful of that could break lose with little notice,” he said. MIOSHA is investigationg the incident to find out what happened and what laws may have been violated. We’re told that investigation could take several weeks. 

OSHA investigates death of worker at Millbrook construction site 
The Associated Press 5/20/03 12:41 PM
MILLBROOK, Ala. (AP) — The Occupational Health and Safety Administration is investigating a Millbrook construction site where a worker died last week when a trench collapsed on him. Steve Owens, 40, of Tyler died Friday while working in a subdivision, police reports said. Owens was working for Liberty Construction of Montgomery. Company officials could not be reached for comment. Police reports said crews weren’t using a trench box at the time of the accident. Federal regulations require the sides of a trench be supported when workers are in place, or that a trench box be used to protect the workers in case of a collapse. 

Davis Commuters Hit Unpleasant Suprise
May. 15, 2003 Sandra Yi reporting 
Davis County commuters get their patience tested when a big construction project hits an unexpected roadblock. Highway 89 was closed all morning, much to the surprise of commuters. And parts of highway 89 are still closed. Part of the problem is construction crews were installing a sewer line and dug a trench, only to see it begin to collapse. It looked like rush hour– at noon. Chris Lloyd/Driver: “NOBODY LIKES TO GET STUCK IN TRAFFIC FOR A LONG TIME, THAT’S FOR SURE.” But drivers in Davis County had a tough morning commute as a construction project on highway 89 hit a roadblock. Tom Hudachko/UDOT: “AND THIS IS REALLY WHERE WE HAD THE MAJORITY OF OUR PROBLEMS THIS MORNING. YOU CAN SEE WHERE THE ASPHALT STOPS AND THE ROAD BASE BEGINS. ABOUT 20 FEET WIDE.” Crews installing a sewer line ran into trouble when a 10 foot trench sloughed on some unstable soil and expanded. Workers would have to tear up the asphalt and repave. Tom Hudachko/UDOT: “WE’RE STILL HAVING SOME PROBLEMS WITH THE TRENCH HERE WHERE YOU CAN SEE SOME OF THE PRESSURE IS RELIEVED AND WE’VE GOT SOME CRACKING IN THE ASPHALT HERE.” The problem, though unexpected, caused major headaches and delays for drivers who had no idea the highway was shut down. It was supposed to reopen at 5 am. Chris Lloyd/Driver: “OH, IT WAS ABOUT A HALF HOUR DELAY.” By 10:00 this morning only one southbound lane would open to traffic. Jennifer Cate/Traffic Specialist: “UP IN DAVIS COUNTY, WE STILL HAVE THAT DETOUR.” All northbound lanes are still closed, leaving commuters to think again about the drive home. Trever Breuhn/Driver: “THEY HAVEN’T POSTED IT OR ANYTHING SO I DIDN’T KNOW THAT IT WAS CLOSED OFF UNTIL JUST NOW WHEN I GOT HERE. SO I’VE GOT TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET HOME COMING THE BACK WAY.” Gary Birell/Driver: “NOBODY KNEW WHAT WAS GOING ON.” “SO WAS IT FRUSTRATING?” “VERY FRUSTRATING, VERY FRUSTRATING.” Chris Lloyd/Driver: “I’M NOT GOING TO BE TAKING IT TONIGHT.” Highway 89 northbound lanes will be closed until tomorrow morning at 5. The detour is at the Farmington exit. If you take Main Street, you can get back on 89 at Cherry Hill. If you’re heading north, you can stay on I-15 and take the Kaysville exit. A reminder that Lagoon Drive is also closed. UDOT says this project will help ease traffic in Davis County, so the headaches now will be worth it in the long run. 

Backhoe accident cuts Boston Net service 
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff, 5/14/2003 
An errant backhoe blade wrought havoc on Internet service throughout Boston yesterday, and The Boston Globe’s Internet site, Boston.com, was among the victims, as was the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. Workers accidentally sliced through a fiber-optic data cable used by Dallas-based Allegiance Telecom Inc., a telecommunications company that hosts the server computers of Boston.com and other local businesses. The accident, which occurred at about 6:45 a.m., disrupted Internet services throughout the day. ”In the Boston area, all of our data customers are affected,” said Allegiance spokesman Michael Caputo. ”They have no service to the public Internet.” Other customers who used Allegiance to carry their telephone traffic also lost voice communications, but Caputo wouldn’t identify the customers. Allegiance began to restore service by late afternoon, with the help of Veroxity Technology Partners Inc., a Boston-based Internet provider, which shared some of its Internet capacity with Allegiance. ”It was a unique situation where we could lend a hand,” said Michael Papell, Veroxity’s director of business development. Randy Brandenburg, Boston.com vice president of product and technology, said the website actually never lost contact with the Internet because it has a secondary data connection. Unfortunately, the domain name service (DNS) computer for the site was still operated by Allegiance, and was knocked offline. A DNS computer is part of a global network of machines that direct visitors to the correct Web servers. If DNS is down, it doesn’t matter whether the Web server is working, because Internet users will have no way of reaching the server. Brandenburg said that Boston.com was aware of the danger before the outage occurred. Next month the site was to adopt a new system that included its own DNS computer. But the cable cut ”got in 16 or 17 days ahead of us,” said Brandenburg. Boston.com moved quickly yesterday to set up a new DNS computer, but Brandenburg said that it wouldn’t do any good until some time today. That’s because the Internet’s entire DNS network must be told how to contact the new DNS computer, and the worldwide directory is updated only once a day. Fortunately, Veroxity came to the rescue, lending 100 megabits of data-carrying capacity to Allegiance. This put the Allegiance DNS computer back on line and restored service to Boston.com at around 5:30 p.m. yesterday. 

Gas explosion destroys home
By Town Crier staff
Santa Clara County firefighters extinguish flames at a Cupertino home that exploded after utility workers accidentally punctured a gas line while working on a home down the street near the Los Altos border May 6. Gas from the damaged gas line filled the house and ignited when it came into contact with a lit pilot light, authorities said. The explosion nearly leveled the home. Nobody was injured in the explosion. The owner told local news stations that he had left for the store to purchase a box of screws for a project he was working on just before the disaster occurred. 

Buildings evacuated after gas line break
News Herald reports 
PORT CLINTON — A construction crew restoring West Perry Street broke a 3-inch gas main Monday, causing about two dozen people to be evacuated from local stores for more than 40 minutes. Workers and shoppers at Great Scot grocery and Goodyear-Fanmark Tire & Auto Service were asked to leave the stores until the gas was shut off, said Port Clinton Fire Chief Chuck O’Neal this morning. “We checked the buildings afterwards once they did come in and shut the main off,” the chief said. “It was at lunch time so it affected the businesses.” Construction crews broke the main right at noon, and it took a little more than an hour for Columbia Gas to get the line shut off and repaired. Since the break was closer to Jackson Street than to Monroe Street, authorities shut down Jackson until the gas flow was stopped. No one was injured in the hour-long ordeal. It could not be determined this morning which construction crew caused the break. 

Construction Accident Costs Man Part of Leg
5/9/2003 by Stephanie Scurlock 
Memphis,TN- A day after a construction worker amputates part of his leg in a construction accident he is listed in good condition at the Med’s trauma unit. The construction crew were he worked continues its job replacing a city of Memphis sewer line. They are working in a tunnel underneath railroad tracks near Wells Station Road and Chelsea. The injured construction worker is identified as 48 year old Gldino Santiana. The owner of White Contracting, where he worked says Santiana stepped in a hole and got his leg caught on a auger. The auger is used to clear dirt out of the tunnel. “It looks like a drill bit inside a tube. And, that’s what it is. When he stepped off in it. The drill bit or auger pressed his leg against the exterior tube or casing and that’s what cut his foot off,”says Charlie White. White says santiana worked for his company for about 5 months and knew his job well. This he says is just a horrible accident. “He’s used to it. Everybody knows the auger is there. They know it’s dangerous. We try to watch these people and unfortunately it just happened,”says White. White says those who continue to work on the job a day after the accident know the job can sometimes be dangerous. accident. “They understand accidents. Unfortunately, in our business we’re around a lot of heavy machinery and equipment. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes it does happen,”says White. Doctors had hoped to reattach the part of Santiana’s severed leg but they couldn’t. However according to physicians, it is better for him that he amputated his leg below the knee than above it. It’s makes the fitting of a prosthesis a little easier. 

Worker buried alive as mud wall collapses 
By Karthik Subramanian CHENNAI MAY 11. 
A casual labourer who was digging a well inside a candy factory in Old Washermanpet on Sunday was buried alive when the sand wall collapsed on him, due to the lack of proper safety procedures. The mishap, reported to have occurred at around 2.15 p.m., when the labourer, V. Ramakrishnan, dug the well with three others including his wife, Shanti, inside a candy factory on Telugu Chetty Street to a depth of around 15 feet. Another labourer, Janardhanan, was also caught when the sand caved in but he was rescued as he was above Ramakrishnan. The Fire and Rescue services said they received the rescue call at 2.29 p.m. and a unit from Old Washermanpet station was rushed to the spot. Even while Janardanan was rescued immediately with the help of the locals, Ramakrishnan was already buried under four feet of sand. A police team headed by the Deputy Commissioner (Washermanpet), A.G.Maurya, said the owner of the factory, A.P. Natarajan, had not acquired proper permission with Metrowater to sink the well nside the factory premises. Mr. Natarajan has been arrested. The police were not willing to accept the statement that the well was being dug for rainwater harvesting purposes. Clearly, the well was being dug inside a roofed factory premises, the officer added. The Fire and rescue services headed by the Divisional Fire Officer (North), K.Bakthavatchalam, determined that the well was dug up without placing concrete sleeves along the circumference of the well to prevent the sand from sliding in. “We could not risk letting anyone else enter the well as there was a possibility that they too would get stuck,” the officer said. In effect, the rescue operation was reduced to a `recovery’ operation and dragged for nearly four hours with five rescue units working together. Meanwhile, tension was building on the street outside with a large crowd gathering to witness what was going on. For the public, it was almost a replay of the accident in another North Chennai locality, Mannadi in August 2001 when six-year-old Tamilmani died after falling into an incomplete open bore well. The wife of the labourer, Shanti, who was a witness to the `rescue’ operations was getting hysterical with every passing hour, even while the Fire Service personnel struggled to get the hardware needed for the rescue operation, such as `S-shaped’ hooks. The police tried to pacify the crowd and even prevented some of Ramakrishnan’s relatives and colleagues who were willing to risk an accident and get into the well. “We cannot risk more lives as we fear that he is already dead,” an officer said. By 6-30 p.m., when the body of Ramakrishnan was removed from the well by dragging the rope with a clamp fixed to his body, the streets outside were near empty resembling a curfew of sorts. The public were not allowed to pass through the street. Only a few political volunteers and the local councillor, Vannai Ganapathy (ward 9) were present. The body was transferred to a waiting ambulance and taken to the Stanley Hospital for post mortem. Meanwhile, the local residents pointed out that the acute water scarcity was prevailing in the region and wondered what precautions would need to be taken, as more wells would be sunk in the coming months.

Construction Worker Rescued From Collapsed Trench 
A Tri-state construction worker who became trapped in a collapsed trench Friday morning has been rescued after more than two and a half hours. Nita Lunsford, 32, of New Lebanon, was working at the De Sales Plaza construction site, at the intersection of Madison and Woodburn in Walnut Hills, when an old foundation collapsed around her. Lunsford, who works for Reece-Campbell Construction Company, was stuck in between two walls 12 feet below ground while rescuers worked to dig her out. The rescue took more than two and a half hours because Urban Search and Rescue crews had to shore up the ground around Lunsford to keep the old foundation from collapsing more. Lunsford’s main injury was to her left leg, which was the only part of her body that had become trapped. She was alert and talking with emergency crews during the entire rescue which ended at 1:45 p.m. Friday. Lunsford’s sister was on the scene during the rescue and called her a ‘strong woman who has been through a tough ordeal.’ DeSales Plaza in East Walnut Hills will include shops and apartments when it is completed. 

Workers Trapped In Southern Iowa Trench Collapse; Investigators Blame Rain, Soft Soil For Accident
May 8, 2003
MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa — Officials in Mount Pleasant said Thursday all the rain may have been a factor in a trench collapse Wednesday, which trapped two city utility workers for about 15 minutes. Randy Carver, of Mount Pleasant, and Jake Syfert, of Salem, were working in the trench when it caved in. Lori Glanzman, of Mount Pleasant Municipal Utilities, said Syfert was buried up to his hips and Carver was buried above his chest. Other utility workers quickly dug the men out. Glanzman said the hole was dug correctly, with the sides shored up and reinforced. She said the ground in the area had been dug up before, and combined with the rain, made the ground soft.

Construction Site Accident Causes Explosion
May 7 — A bizarre accident at a construction site in Cupertino ended with an explosion and a fire that burned down the house next door. It happened at Imperial and Granada avenues around 2:45 Wednesday afternoon. The fire department says a construction worker hit a gas main with a backhoe and vapors drifted to the house next door. The explosion was a shock to everyone. One woman was injured with minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital. A male with minor injuries was treated at the scene. 

Ruptured gas main closes two Lansing schools
By James McCurtis Jr. Lansing State Journal
The Beekman Center and Forest View Elementary School were shut down Wednesday after workers ruptured a gas main at the south Lansing center. Lansing School District employees were installing playground equipment at Beekman, 2901 Wabash Road, when they broke the 2-inch pipe about 8:21 a.m. Beekman students were on buses when the accident happened and never entered the school, said district spokesman Mark Mayes. Beekman students were taken to Forest View about a quarter mile from the center, but officials detected gas there as well. Forest View students were then taken to the Hill Center for Academics & Technology for the remainder of the day. Beekman students were taken home, but if a parent wasn’t home they were taken to the Hill Center. Both schools are expected to re-open Thursday, Mayes said.