QUEEN CREEK, AZ — An Arizona company is facing a six-figure fine after two workers were seriously injured in a trench collapse in Queen Creek earlier this year.
State regulators recently cited and fined DCS Contracting $161,323 after a report said the 5-feet-deep trench lacked an adequate protection system.
The accident happened when four workers were inside an excavation trench in March near Hawes and Ocotillo roads, according to a report by the Arizona Division of Occupational Safety and Health (ADOSH). They were installing a new water main for the town of Queen Creek.
The report said the project became a “time-sensitive issue” because a storm was approaching and there was a need to return the water main to service.
One side of the trench gave way, crushing two employees. They were rescued and taken to the hospital. Both had fractured pelvises and needed surgery, according to the report. The names of the workers have not been released.
Photos taken by ADOSH show metal protective devices, known as “shoring,” lying outside the trench. Shoring supports the walls to prevent collapses. The shoring devices should have been inside the trench, according to ADOSH.
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The report says employees said the shoring was “defective.” Another employee said there was not enough space inside the excavation for the shoring.
The report says safety policies were “ignored by several people to get the job completed before the storm came and rained out the job site.”
“Had proper protection been used, these employees would not have sustained their severe injuries,” the ADOSH report said.
ABC15 reached out to DCS Contracting by phone and email for comment but has not heard back yet. Companies have the right to contest safety citations and fines.
This $161,323 fine is dramatically higher than one levied a few years ago when two men died in a trench accident in 2020 in west Phoenix. That fine was only $8,000, an amount that the workers’ families criticized as being a slap on the wrist.
Why the big increase in fines?
There is new leadership as of last year at the Industrial Commission of Arizona, the umbrella state agency over ADOSH. ADOSH also has a new director. A change in state law since then allows the agency to levy higher fines for worker safety violations.
The Industrial Commission also has done away with automatically giving small companies “discounts” on their fines of up to 70 percent if the safety violation led to severe injuries or death. Those discounts were no longer automatically given after ABC15 wrote a series of stories last year.
In the case of the Queen Creek trench collapse, the company received a “willful-serious” citation. This is given when ADOSH says employers knowingly fail to follow safety regulations. This designation opens the company up to potentially more fines. The workers could collect up to $25,000 each if they have permanent disabilities.
Industrial Commission Chairman Dennis Kavanaugh said the commission is still determining whether the workers will be eligible.
“This was a very serious trench incident that certainly could have been prevented,” he said during a commission meeting Thursday.
Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at: anne.ryman@abc15.com, call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as Twitter, and Facebook.
