The state's workplace safety authority is investigating a trench collapse that trapped a contractor for several hours Wednesday evening until his rescue by a crew of four dozen emergency workers.
A 50-year-old Oakland man was in the 10-foot-deep trench to repair a septic line running between a Dawnview Drive home and the street when it caved in on him, authorities said.
It evolved into a three-hour saga where upward of 200 spectators watched 50 emergency personnel, led by the East Contra Costa Fire District and involving firefighters from as far away as Moraga, methodically dig out the clay bed that trapped the man up to his neck. He was taken to the hospital with complaints of pain but is expected to recover.
On Thursday, Cal-OSHA sent an investigator to follow up on the accident, spokeswoman Erika Monterozza said. There was initial uncertainty about whether the agency had jurisdiction because it wasn't immediately clear whether the digging was an official job or a favor to the homeowner.
That was cleared up, Monterozza said, when it was determined that the trapped man was a contractor with employees on site, making the collapse a workplace incident.