Construction Worker Dies in SF After Sewer Trench Collapse

A utility worker for D’Arcy & Harty Construction was killed Thursday after a trench collapsed during a sewer upgrade in San Francisco’s Lower Haight, trapping him under 8 feet of dirt.

The unidentified man was found dead at 10 a.m. after emergency crews spent two hours trying to free him near Oak and Divisadero streets, the San Francisco Chronicle and NBC Bay Area reported. When they reached him, it was too late.

A search and rescue dog was brought in to help find the worker. A large vacuum truck was also used to excavate the dirt and debris that buried him.

But after finding him, it took crews two more hours to remove his body from the trench.

“It’s sad to say that after two hours underneath a lot of debris with no oxygen, this became a fatal incident,” San Francisco Fire Department Capt. Jonathan Baxter said.

The man was part of a contracted crew working to replace sewer mains and laterals, according to San Francisco Public Works, manager of the project known as the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Panhandle and Inner Sunset Large Sewer Rehabilitation Project.

“Safety is our number one priority. We want to find out what happened, why it happened,” said Rachel Gordon, a public works spokeswoman. “We’re going to be working with the contractor. We’re going to be working with the fire department, Cal OSHA. We have street inspectors, construction inspectors all on scene to try and find out what happened.”

Mayor London Breed toured the site and said the city will do what it can for the worker’s family.

“Some of his family is here,” the mayor said. “We need to make sure they are properly notified and provided with the respect and the support that they need.”

— Dana Bartholomew