The owner of a Vail, Colorado construction company facing felony manslaughter charges has surrendered to local law enforcement after the Summit County Sheriff’s Office in Breckenridge, Colorado, issued an arrest warrant on Jan. 24, 2023.

In 2022’s first six months, 22 workers have fallen victim to the deadly hazards present in trenching and excavation work – surpassing 15 in all of 2021 – and prompting OSHA to launch enhanced enforcement initiatives to protect workers from known industry hazards.

Clyde Nettles Jr. was in an unprotected trench reconnecting drainpipes at Fort Bragg on July 24, 2014, when, without warning, the walls collapsed around him and another worker. The other worker was able to escape uninjured, but 22-year-old Nettles was not.

A company whose employee was critically injured in a trench collapse repeatedly ignored warnings that the excavation was unsafe – including one on the day of the incident. An employee of R.E. Arnold Construction Inc. was trapped when the wall of an excavation he was working in collapsed around him as he was removing dirt from a storm filtration system.