The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) cited eight construction employers in three October enforcement actions over trench and excavation hazards, proposing a combined $1,283,642 in penalties, according to agency news releases issued between October 7 and October 21, 2026. One case followed the death of a worker in a Pennsylvania trench collapse.

Fatal collapse in Pennsylvania

On October 7, OSHA said it had cited Jonas David Wagoner, doing business as J.D. Wagoner Excavating, of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, after “a young worker was fatally injured in a trench collapse.” The agency opened its investigation on April 2, 2026, and found workers installing a storm sewer system 12 feet below ground level in a trench that was not adequately protected from soil collapse. When a portion of the trench wall failed, the unrestrained soil engulfed one worker, OSHA said.

The agency issued one willful violation for failure to protect workers from cave-ins and two repeat violations for failing to assign a competent person to conduct daily trench inspections and for failing to remove employees from hazardous conditions. Three serious violations covered failures to provide construction hazard prevention training, establish a safe means of exit, keep materials at least two feet from the edge of the excavation and restrain side materials from becoming roll-in hazards. OSHA proposed $254,884 in penalties.

A 75-foot embankment in New York

On October 13, OSHA said it had cited six New York and New Jersey construction employers at Monroe Commons, also known as Magna Square, in Monroe, New York, a planned four-story, roughly 408,000-square-foot mixed-use building with retail, office space and a 39-room hotel on an 18-acre site. Responding to an allegation of struck-by and collapse hazards at a large excavation, inspectors found that “the excavation had a steep, unstable embankment nearly 75 feet high which was not adequately sloped or shored.”

Workers were exposed to rock and soil falling or rolling from the excavation face without shielding, and no competent person conducted daily excavation inspections, according to the agency. OSHA cited Advanced Plan and Build LLC and The Paving Masters LLC for willful failure to ensure that the excavation, which was between 21 and 75 feet deep, was designed by a registered professional engineer. Some employers were also cited for fall protection and chemical hazards.

In all, OSHA issued 23 serious and five willful citations to the project’s general contractor and five subcontractors, with proposed penalties totaling $648,094. The largest proposed amounts were $198,615 for Parkstone Inc. and Obstacle Systems Inc., operating as Drip Drop Waterproofing Inc.; $188,684 for The Paving Masters; and $175,444 for Advanced Plan and Build. Century Max Industries Corp. faces $46,340, Prime Structure Inc. $19,860 and DelValle Contractor $19,151.

Repeat violations in Illinois

On October 21, OSHA cited Always Underground LLC, a utility construction company based in Frankfort, Illinois. The agency said it opened the investigation as part of its National Emphasis Program on Trenching after witnessing employees working in an unprotected trench deeper than eight feet.

The company received three repeat violations, for failing to provide a safe means of egress, failing to install a trench protective system against cave-ins and failing to keep excavated materials and equipment at least 2 feet from the edge, plus one serious violation for not providing protective hard hats against falling objects. OSHA proposed $380,664 in penalties.

What the standard requires

Under OSHA’s excavation standard, 29 CFR 1926.652, each employee in an excavation must be protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system, except where the excavation is made entirely in stable rock, or is less than 5 feet deep and a competent person’s examination of the ground shows no indication of a potential cave-in.

The agency’s trenching and excavation guidance states that “trench collapses, or cave-ins, pose the greatest risk to workers’ lives.” It lists three ways to prevent them: sloping or benching trench walls, shoring them with supports, or shielding them with trench boxes. It also tells employers to ensure a safe way to enter and exit the trench and to keep materials away from the edge.

Why it matters

The same basic requirements recur across all three cases: cave-in protection, competent-person inspections, keeping spoil and materials back from the edge, and a safe way out. Two of the three actions included repeat violations, and two included willful violations.

For utility, sitework and excavation contractors, the cases show two routes into an inspection. In Illinois, OSHA opened the case under its trenching emphasis program after investigators saw an unprotected trench; in New York, it responded to a hazard allegation at a large excavation.

What happens next

According to the releases, employers have 15 business days from receipt of their citations and penalties to comply, request an informal conference with OSHA’s area director or contest the findings before the independent Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission. OSHA’s release on the Pennsylvania case notes that its information may not reflect the current or final status of the case, including penalty amounts and classifications.

The caveats

The details of each case come from OSHA’s own releases, which do not include responses from the employers. The $1,283,642 total is the sum of penalties proposed in three separate cases, not a single enforcement action.