Trench work site was unsafe, OSHA rep says

The trench that collapsed in Hudson on Wednesday, killing Canfield man James Wetzl, was extremely unsafe, according to Rob Medlock, Cleveland’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration office director.

The 15-foot trench had minimal protections, but not in the area where Wetzl, 56, and Albert Joseph Bagnoli Jr., 58, were working when the trench wall collapsed inward. Bagnoli was removed from the trench and taken to Akron City Hospital.

“There is really no excuse to let folks work in a trench that’s 15 feet with no protection,” Medlock said.

Trenches of that depth can be protected by sloping the walls or by fortifying the sides of the trench with a shield or shoring materials to prevent the walls from collapsing, Medlock said. The trench that collapsed Wednesday had none of these protections, he said.

Workers in the trench were employees of A. Bagnoli and Sons, an excavating company based in Boardman. The company was digging a sewer line for the Fossalto Acres housing development at the south end of Duffield Drive in southeast Hudson.

OSHA is continuing to investigate the cause of the accident, Medlock said. The results of the investigation will likely not be made public for several weeks.