Men trapped in fatal Durham trench collapse worked for Georgia plumbing company

A construction worker was killed Wednesday afternoon after a trench collapsed at a construction site in Durham, the Durham Fire Department said.

D.R. Mozeley, a Charlotte-based construction company that specializes in gas stations, confirmed a plumbing subcontractor died working at 4209 Corners Parkway, near the intersection of T.W. Alexander Drive and Glenwood Avenue, just past the Brier Creek shopping area.

D.R. Mozeley said the subcontractor was J Squared Plumbing, a Georgia-based company.

Durham Fire Department Deputy Fire Chief Chris Iannuzzi said the trench was at least 6 to 8 feet deep, according to ABC11, The News & Observer’s newsgathering partner.

“The safety of all employees and subcontractors on our construction sites is our highest priority and we are deeply committed to following all industry safety standards,” D.R. Mozeley said in an emailed statement.

The News & Observer could not reach J Squared Plumbing on Thursday.

D.R. Mozeley was fined $2,642 in Wytheville, Virginia, for an airlift safety violation and a fall protection violation. It also was fined $600 while working on a Durham project for a fall protection violation, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

J Squared Plumbing does not have any listed violations.

The news of the man’s death about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday came hours after the trench collapsed at 11:02 a.m. and first-responders spent the afternoon on rescue efforts.

The man, whose name was not released, was one of four workers trapped in the trench. One worker got out on his own, and two others were rescued, the fire department said in a news release.

The incident occurred in Durham city limits, but in Wake County.

At least two of the workers were taken to Duke University Medical Center, Fire Department officials said at a press briefing. They did not know the extent of their injuries.

Urban Search and Rescue personnel from Durham and Wake County were among the first responders. The Raleigh Police Department and Wake County EMS also responded to the accident.

Trench Collapses

Two people died in trench-related work accidents in North Carolina between Jan. 1, 2017, and Jan. 1, 2020.

One of those was in Raleigh and involved Vertical Walls, Inc., a company that builds retaining walls, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The trench collapsed Jan. 22, 2019, killing one person and injuring two others, The N&O reported. The investigation is ongoing.

Construction is among the most dangerous industries in North Carolina.

In 2017, 36 private-sector construction workers died in work-related incidents, according to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was an increase from 30 the prior year, The News & Observer reported in January 2019 after a worker died when a trench collapsed at an apartment construction site in north Raleigh.

Excavating and trenching “are among the most hazardous construction operations,” according to the federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration. “Cave-ins pose the greatest risk and are much more likely than other excavation-related accidents to result in worker fatalities,” the administration says on its website.

This story was originally published January 15, 2020 at 12:49 PM with the headline "Men trapped in fatal Durham trench collapse worked for Georgia plumbing company."