WE NEED LAWS LIKE FENCING AROUND PITS
AND THIS WAS WHAT I SAID TO THE COUNTY
COMMISSONERS HERE
As you are aware, three children died on Sunday afternoon, August
9th, when vertical
wall of a clay pit in Santa Rosa County Florida, collapsed on them as they
sought shelter
from a thunderstorm.
I am asking to either fill in this clay pit or place fencing and postings
stating the hazards of
unauthorized entry and also enacting a law that would apply the same rules
to all other
pits and retention ponds in our county.
I have found an OSHA safety code regarding safe “Practices for Excavation”
that states:
“The face of an excavation may be cut to a safe slope as an alternative
to shoring. Sloping
the face may be a safe and cheaper alternative if there is sufficient space
at the site.” It
goes on to state: “A slope is safe when the material is stable. That
is to say, the slope
does not flatten when left for a considerable period, there is no movement
of material
down the slope, and the toe of the slope remains in the same place.”
This is not the case at the American Farms clay pit site that took three
young lives. The
wall where we dug Mallory, Jessica, and Jillian out was approximately 20
feet high and
there was no sloping at all. This was a vertical wall with an overhang
and not just at the
vicinity of the accident, but over half the pit is structured in the same
manner. It was
estimated that the girls were covered by a ton of clay however, an article
on soil
mechanics published by Ohio State University Extension Service states that
“a cubic yard
of soil, which contains 27 cubic feet of material, may weigh nearly two
thousand seven
hundred pounds. That is nearly one and half tons (the equivalent
weight of a car) in a
space less than the size of the average office desk. Furthermore,
wet soil (as was the case
here) is usually heavier. The human body cannot support such heavy
loads without being
injured.” Let me say that I saw enough “office desks” collapsed into
this pit to equal
much more than a ton.
Upon request, I can provide you with (1) the entire publication from Ohio
State University
regarding safety principles for trenching and excavation in addition to
(2) planning keys to
avoid cave-ins by Jeffrey J. Lew, P.E. Purdue University and Dr. Louis
J Thompson, P.E.
of Texas A&M University. I can also provide you with (3) a copy
of “Trench Cave-Ins:
A Preventable Hazard” published by the Roberts and Roberts Law Firm of
Tyler, Texas
and (4) a listing of many cave-in deaths that have occurred nationally
for the last three
years. This listing is of workers only.....evidently there is no
documentation that includes
non-employees and children.
I have heard from some people concerning the parent’s responsibility in
this matter and all
I can say to their remarks is that people cannot know where their children
are or who they
are with every minute of every day. They may tell you that they are
going next door to
play and when you go to check on them, they have gone down the road to
play at
someone else’s house. As any parent can tell you, once they reach
a certain age, it’s
difficult to keep track of them, even in your own back yard. While
I grant you that these
children should have not been in the clay pit, perhaps fencing and posting
may have given
them second thoughts about entering the area.
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