Danger in the Trenches

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By CBS 3 Springfield News

Story Published: Jun 9, 2010 at 6:56 PM EDT

Story Updated: Jun 9, 2010 at 8:26 PM EDT

Thanks to federal stimulus dollars, construction crews are all over Massachusetts roadways drilling, digging and working in dangerous conditions. Each year, trenches that are dug to reach water, sewer and utility lines collapse, killing 200 workers. In April, a worker was killed and another hurt after a trench caved in on them in Pennsylvania. Just two weeks ago, rescuers pulled two men out of a trench in suburban Chicago. With so much work going on this summer in Westfield, fire officials say it dangerous work.

Training Technical Coordinator, Mark McCabe says "In Westfield and everywhere else there is a real possibility, significant with all the road construction projects that is happening."

This week, six Westfield firefighters joined by a few from Holyoke, Pittsfield and Boston, are learning the in's and outs of saving someone who's buried alive.

McCabe says "Typically, it takes four to six hours to do that. That's on average. So, it's not like a fire where you go in there and put the fire out and your done in an hour and a half on average."

And there's a lot of equipment used during a trench rescue that firefighters need to become familiar with.

Westfield Fire Chief, Bill Phelon says "They are learning to safely get into the ground where it's unstable and set up blocking and shoring so they can go in and get somebody out that's been trapped."

McCabe says "They will also have to work on getting a piece of pipe or some type of structure off of a victim and then extricating the victim out of the hole."

So far, Westfield has been lucky with few injuries on construction sites. But, with more work on the way, they want to be ready.
Fire officials do want to remind bystanders not to rush in and help if they see an construction accident. Instead, dial 911. Often times when un-trained people jump in to help, they end up needing to be rescued too.

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Jane Smith said on Friday, Jun 11 at 11:04 AM

If companies follow the OSHA and state requirements for protecting trenches PRIOR to worker entry then no none should be getting injuried. Please take the time to do it right a and if you ned assistance you can always call OSHA TO get technical information

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