O this particular day, having gone out on the front porch for a smoke, I saw that the workers were making considerable progress on the trench down to the pipe. Taking an interest in the work, I stepped over to get a better look, and realized that they were getting deep indeed. There was one fellow digging on the bottom, while the other two stood above, hauling out buckets of sandy dirt. The trench walls were about shoulder level by then. Less than a week before, there'd been a trench collapse on the news, and I was a bit worried. Trying not to offend the workers, I tried to ask politely if they might not want to shore up the trench walls. My Spanish is pretty spotty, and only one of them spoke much English, but after a minute or two, they got the idea, and made it clear they thought there was no problem. While we spoke, a small bit of the dry, very sandy wall fell in, and I noticed that they were starting to undermine the driveway a bit. The guy in the bottom spoke no English at all, but he was starting to look a bit nervous. The other two reassured the one below, and they all got back to work. Having been told off, I went inside to call my friend, hoping they would listen to the guy who paid them. However, my roomie was the sort to avoid 'negative thinking' and didn't want to hear about it. He told me not to worry and hung up. Wondering if I was overreacting, I went back outside. The guy working on the bottom was now lying in the grass, heaving and panting. The other two were laughing half-heartedly, in embarrassed relief I think. The trench was now suddely much wider, and shallower. The spokesman (whose English was suddenly much better I noticed) handed me a smile and beer. Telling me how smart I was. He told me the guy had basically flown out as the wall gave in on him. I doubt they realized that even if he'd only been burried over his waist, he still might have been seriously injured or killed. I believe you can be smothered burried only to the belly, if you can't expand your diaphragm. Two hours later, they were about where they'd been before the collapse, and not clearly not about to change their way of doing things. Somehow, they managed to finish the job without shoring up the trench, or killing anyone. I did notice later that the spokesman who'd told me off, (and brought beer to work) was missing a different finger on each hand. You ever get the impression that some people are afraid to be seen being careful?

Submitted on 04/03/2007

Submitted by: Ernest
Reference: Personal Story, nonfatal

Copyright © 2007 DarwinAwards.com

Bruce said:
Definitely Keep: Personal Account
Thanks for the story, Ernest. It never ceases to amaze me how people can ignore blindingly obvious warnings. Trench collapses in the news? Who cares. Verbal warnings? Nope. Signs that the trench itself is unstable? Big deal. Hopefully the poor fellow who was at the bottom of the trench will keep an eye out for his own safety since he obviously can't rely on his coworkers. And noticing that the leader of this crew was missing multiple fingers added a nice touch!

Chip said:
Definitely Keep: Urban Legend
Of course the guy up top was not worried! HE wasn't in the trench. Good PA, Ernest. Thanks for sending it.

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