Last year, Bongarde Media, the parent company of SafetyXChange, asked its Safety Smart! Magazine readers to share their most frightening close calls and the lessons they learned as a result of the incident. Many people had compelling tales to tell. Here’s one of them.

Worker Didn’t Know When to Quit

I was the top person in an excavation. It was raining very hard and I told an employee to come out now. He kept trying to do one more thing. The sides were falling and the steel (shoring) sheets were starting to move. Finally, when I raised my voice and told him “now!” he started to climb the ladder, which was sinking down as he climbed.

Then the steel started to buckle and I was trying to pull my co-worker out. I thought he was going to die. I gave a big yank on his hand and managed to pull him out. As we both fell to the ground, I watched the steel sheets buckle and almost remove my co-worker’s ankle.

Lessons Learned

Never work with an employee who is known for not following the rules. Follow your gut feelings not to enter in a questionable excavation under any circumstances. Make sure the company covers all the dangers at safety meetings, especially when there is a drastic change in the weather. And make sure management holds employees accountable for following safety rules.

No name given,
Washington State

What was your most frightening close call or injury incident? And what did it teach you? Send your stories to catherinej@bongarde.com and let us know if we can use your name/company name.

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