By Meagan Pollnow
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Workers examine a trench where a worker was killed Thursday. (Enquirer photo)

DEERFIELD TOWNSHIP - Investigators are working to figure out how a bucket on a backhoe came loose, toppled into a trench and pinned a construction worker against the water line he was installing, killing him early Thursday.

William Shearn, 34, an employee of Reynolds Construction, and another worker were installing the water pipe about five feet under ground level along Mason-Montgomery Road at Interstate 71 when the accident occurred.

Shearn was talking to emergency workers for nearly 30 minutes as they struggled to free him, said Deerfield Township Deputy Fire Chief Nathan Bromen. But Bromen said Shearn died before workers could get him out of the trench.

Shearn, a Middletown father of two young children, had worked for about two years at Reynolds Construction, a company subcontracted by the Cincinnati Water Works for the pipe installation, said Ohio State Highway Patrol Sgt. Rick Zwayer.

Attempts to reach Reynolds Construction were unsuccessful Thursday.

State workplace safety investigators said the company has been cited more than a dozen times in the past five years for workplace violations in Ohio and Indiana.

The Ohio Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the accident to determine if safety rules were followed. the agency will work to determine how the bucket came off the backhoe and if the trench was adequately protected, said Richard Gilgrist, area director of OSHA in Ohio.

OSHA investigators will ask workers if a quick coupling device was used at the time of the accident. A quick coupler is used to move and replace buckets and other lifting devices on the arm of a backhoe and similar machinery.

There have been a number of fatal accidents across the country in which backhoe buckets fell off, most often when workers haven't followed guidelines and improperly used the coupler, Gilgrist said.

He said it's unclear when the OSHA investigation will be complete.

"This one could take a while," he said. "Because of the two different hazards and the fatality, which extends the time of investigation and review."

Bromen said it appeared that Shearn and the other man were working without a trench box, a metal box to reinforce earthen trenches to prevent collapse.

Reynolds Construction has a history of violations involving inadequate trench protection, but none that led to serious injury or fatality, according to Gilgrist.

In 1999, the company was fined $89,500 for three violations related to its trenches in Miamisburg. OSHA stipulates trenches must have adequate sloping and shoring so they do not cave in, he said.

In the past five years, the company was cited for violating federal workplace safety rules at least 14 times in Indiana. Those were detected during routine reviews and were not tied to complaints or accidents, said Tim Crouse, acting deputy commissioner of the Indiana Occupational Safety and Health Division. Some citations involved improper trench construction, some classified as serious.

"A serious classification involves identifying hazards that could result in serious injury," Crouse said, adding that 14 citations is not considered high for a large company.

Gilgrist said OSHA can only shut down a company's operation if it has evidence employees are in imminent danger and the company refuses to fix violations. The most a company can be fined per violation is $70,000, Gilgrist said.

"We take a very aggressive stance regarding trenching hazards," he said. "It's one of the most lethal hazards we have within our regulations."

Although falls on the job lead to the most fatalities, more people survive falls than trench accidents.

"When there's an accident involving a trench, it's highly likely to be a fatal accident," Gilgrist said.

David Eck contributed. E-mail mpollnow@enquirer.com