Two Workers Died in a Ten Foot Trench. The Rule That Protects Them Starts at Five Feet.

Chris Fredette
1 day ago
5 min read

Two workers were killed in a trench roughly ten feet deep at a construction site near El Dorado Street and Hammer Lane in Stockton, California. Raul Cristostomo De La Cruz, 34, and Raul Zepeda, 49, were last seen going into the trench around 5:30 on the evening of Friday, August 7, 2026. A coworker returned the next morning, found their vehicle still on site, and firefighters were called at 5:15 a.m. Saturday, August 8. The site was a supermarket preparing to reopen under new ownership.

Stockton Fire stated publicly that the trench had no shoring in place. The Cal/OSHA investigation is open and can take up to six months, and nothing here goes past what has been reported. What can be said is what the standard requires, what the data shows, and what a crew leader can do about it before the next hole gets dug.

By the numbers

OSHA-reported trench collapse deaths spiked to 39 in 2022, the worst year in the agency's recent tracking. The following years brought real improvement. OSHA counted 15 deaths in 2023 and 12 in calendar year 2024 as of its November 2024 statement, which described the decline as encouraging. Note these are OSHA-reported and investigated fatalities rather than BLS Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries totals.

That trend then stalled. OSHA reported 11 trench-related fatalities as of a July 28, 2025 trade release, with trade press tracking reaching at least 12 within days. Either figure put the year on pace to match or exceed the prior one rather than continue the decline. OSHA used that release to remind employers that cave-ins are preventable when required procedures are followed, naming trench boxes specifically.

The number that matters more than any of these is the weight. OSHA puts it plainly: a single cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as a car, nearly 3,000 pounds. A trench wall does not lean over and give warning. It releases, and the interval between the first movement and full burial is shorter than the time it takes to climb a ladder.

What Subpart P actually requires

The federal excavation standard is 29 CFR 1926 Subpart P, and the core requirement in 1926.652 is straightforward. Every excavation five feet deep or greater must have a protective system, meaning sloping, benching, shoring or a shield such as a trench box. The only exception is an excavation made entirely in stable rock, and stable rock is a far narrower category than most crews assume. In California, Cal/OSHA applies the same five foot threshold.

Read the structure of that rule carefully, because it is commonly stated backwards. Protection is the default at any depth. 1926.652(a)(1) lists two exceptions: excavations made entirely in stable rock, and excavations less than five feet deep where examination of the ground by a competent person provides no indication of a potential cave-in. The sub-five-foot exemption only attaches if someone actually performs that examination. No examination, no exemption. Depth alone never makes a trench safe.

The competent person requirement is where most programs are thinner than they look. Under 1926.651(k)(1) a competent person must inspect the excavation, the adjacent areas and the protective systems prior to the start of work and as needed throughout the shift, after every rainstorm, and after any other hazard-increasing occurrence. The as-needed-throughout-the-shift piece gets dropped from most written programs, and it is the one that matters when conditions change mid-dig. That person must have both the demonstrated ability to identify the hazard and the authority to stop work and remove people. A foreman who can spot the problem but cannot halt the pour is not a competent person under the standard.

Access is the requirement crews skip most often. Under 1926.651(c)(2), any trench four feet deep or greater needs a ladder, stair or ramp positioned so no worker travels more than 25 feet laterally to reach it. The ladder itself falls under a different subpart: 1926.1053(b)(1) and (b)(8) in Subpart X require the side rails to extend at least three feet above the upper landing surface and the ladder to be secured against displacement.

Why it happens on jobs that know better

Almost nobody sets out to put a crew in an unprotected trench. In eight years of field safety work, the pattern is remarkably consistent, and it has very little to do with ignorance of the rule.

The trench box is staged on the other side of the yard and moving it means a machine, an operator and forty minutes. The hole only needs to be open another twenty minutes. The tie-in is one connection. The inspector is coming Tuesday. The job is almost finished.

That last one deserves naming out loud, because it shows up in fatality reports over and over. The end of a task is when protective systems come out early, when one person hops down for one last thing, and when the crew's sense of the risk is at its lowest exactly as their exposure stays the same. Almost done is a hazard condition. Treat it like one.

A toolbox talk you can run tomorrow

Protective system at five feet, every time, unless the excavation is entirely in stable rock. If anyone has to think about whether this trench qualifies, it does not qualify.
The competent person inspects before the shift, after any rain, and any time conditions change. Name that person out loud at the start of the shift so the crew knows who can stop the work.
Spoil piles and equipment stay a minimum of two feet back from the edge. Soil stacked at the lip is surcharge load on the wall you are standing next to.
Ladder or ramp within 25 feet of lateral travel in any trench four feet or deeper, extending three feet above the edge and tied off.
Call 811 before the shovel moves and give it the required notice, usually two to three business days depending on your state. One-call notice is state law rather than an OSHA rule, though 1926.651(b)(2) requires contacting utility owners within customary local response times. Strikes on buried utilities put people in the hole for emergency repairs, which is how unplanned excavations start.
Nobody enters for one last thing. Not the foreman, not the pipe layer, not for thirty seconds. A cubic yard of soil weighs about as much as a car.

Key Takeaways

Two workers were killed in a roughly ten foot trench in Stockton, California, found August 8, 2026, with the Cal/OSHA investigation still open.
OSHA-reported trench deaths fell from 39 in 2022 to 15 in 2023 and 12 through November 2024, then stalled, with 11 reported as of late July 2025.
1926.652(a)(1) makes cave-in protection the default at any depth, with exceptions only for stable rock or a sub-five-foot excavation a competent person has actually examined and cleared.
A competent person must inspect before the shift and as needed throughout it, after rain and after any hazard-increasing occurrence, and must hold the authority to stop work.
Most fatal entries happen at the end of a task, when perceived risk drops but actual exposure does not.