California Car Accident Reports

Angel Celaya, 48, suffered serious personal injury in a workplace accident the afternoon of September 21, 2009 after he fell off a scissor lift. According to a news report in The Orange County Register, Celaya was working in one of the buildings at Boeing's Huntington Beach campus when he fell off the lift. Huntington Beach firefighters responded to the call, but Celaya was pronounced dead just nine minutes after his fall.
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Javier Iniguez, 32, died in a Huntington Beach construction job accident after he was trapped in a trench collapse at a local construction site, The Orange County Register reports. The fatal job injury occurred the afternoon of April 27, 2009 in the 4600 block of Warner Avenue where Iniguez was trapped after soil and concrete fell on top of him. Iniguez was trapped about eight feet inside the trench head first, as about 40 firefighters tried in vain to rescue him.

Iniguez died at the scene. Iniguez was apparently working on the trench near Ocean Towers Luxury Apartments along with another worker. They were exposing the concrete foundation and painting a sealant to keep the foundation from water damage. Iniguez was the only one who was in the trench when it collapsed. The other worker, who has not been identified, was not injured.

My heart goes out to the family and friends of Javier Iniguez, who died from his fatal on-the-job injury. I offer my deepest condolences to everybody who knew and loved Iniguez. Please keep them in your prayers.

This fatal construction accident is being investigated by the California Department of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA). Trench cave-ins are unfortunately common industrial accidents that cause death and injury. According to Cal/OSHA's statistics, over a five-year period between 2001 and 2005, 26 Californians have been killed in trench collapses and 207 Californians have been injured in these entirely preventable construction accidents. In almost every instance of trench collapse, it has been determined that the cause was a failure to shore up a trench properly, the state safety agency says.

The state spells out very specific regulations when it comes to trenches. Every time a worker enters an excavation 5 feet or deeper, companies must obtain a permit from the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). This California agency requires employers to conduct daily inspections of the trench and have competent safety systems in place. That includes paying close attention to how the soil is at the particular site. If the soil is loose or has liquid in it, it is more likely to cave in. Some of the other preventive steps include not parking heavy vehicles or equipment next to the trench and paying close attention to changing weather patterns.

There are also specific industry and safety standards for width and depth of excavations, which are designed to prevent tragedies like this. These standards require a competent foreperson to be physically present on site to ensure that they adhere to these important safety standards. In the state of California, every employer has the legal obligation to provide and maintain a safe and healthy workplace for employees, per the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973. If it is determined that the required safety measures were not followed here and the trench had not been properly shored-up, then Iniguez's employer would be fined by Cal/OSHA. Iniguez's family will no doubt be entitled to California workers compensation benefits. But they may also have a "third party claim" here. A third party claim is usually filed against someone other than an employer who is believed to have been negligent, such as a contractor, sub-contractor, maintenance personnel or the manufacturer of a defective product. Third party claims are usually worth 20 times more to a victim and/or their family than workers compensation benefits, which are extremely inadequate to compensate for such a huge loss. Javier Iniguez's family certainly needs reputed Orange County personal injury attorneys who have had success with third party claims on their side, to investigate this incident. I'd bet the construction contractor has already started their own investigation with their insurance company and attorneys. Iniguez's family needs a knowledgeable California personal injury attorney fighting for and protecting their legal rights and getting them the compensation they rightfully deserve.