A South Florida contracting company apparently didn't learn its lesson the first time around, in 2010, when it was cited by OSHA for having an employee work in a 10-foot-deep trench at a Miami site with no cave-in protection.

A Boston-based contractor faces $161,000 in fines after an OSHA inspector saw one of its employees exposed to both cave-in and struck-by hazards while installing a watermain.

Even after being informed of cave-in hazards, a Connecticut company continued to send workers into a ten-foot-deep trench in Hartford that lacked protection to prevent the walls from collapsing -- an action which earned Penney Construction Co. LLC seven OSHA citations and $169,000 in proposed fines.

An Ohio company has learned the hard way that failing to provide cave-in protection for its workers can result in...cave-ins, and OSHA citations.

A Wisconsin company has been placed in OSHA's Severe Violator Enforcement Program (SVEP), after the death of a teenaged worker in a trench collapse revealed numerous safety hazards.

OSHA has proposed fines totaling $117,740 against Newport-based Raymond J. Cawley Contracting Inc. for allowing cave-in and other hazards while workers were excavating in Middletown to replace a sewer line.

In an indication that trenching hazards remain a widespread problem, OSHA recently cited a Wisconsin pump service, Rhode Island contractor and Ohio excavation company for exposing workers to trenching hazards.

OSHA has cited North Royalton-based DiGioia-Suburban Excavating for two willful safety violations after discovering that workers were allowed to ride inside an excavator bucket to access a trench at a Bowling Green job site on Nov. 17, 2011. 

 With a name like Ditchdiggers, you’d think a Ft. Pierce, Florida company would know how to protect workers who are, well, digging ditches. 

OSHA has cited Cavalieri Construction Co. Inc. for alleged willful and serious violations of safety standards at a Chelsea worksite. The Everett-based contractor faces a total of $40,700 in proposed fines for excavation hazards identified during OSHA's April inspection of the work site.