JOHN ROTTET - jrottet@newsobserver.com
TV news crews pack up after their report at the Durham County site where two men died inside a manhole.
DURHAM -- Investigators think two construction workers killed in a manhole beside U.S. 70 may have suffocated one at a time after the first went down the hole to retrieve some equipment and lost consciousness, and the other followed to rescue him.
The accident happened in a section of water system under construction near the Durham-Wake county line. The men, Luis Castaneda Gomez, 34, of Durham, and Jesus Martinez Benitez, 32, of Clayton worked for Burlington-based Triangle Grading and Paving, Inc., which has a history of safety violations.
A third worker had dropped off the pair so they could retrieve equipment, said Capt. Don Ladd of the Durham County Sheriff's Office. About 30 to 45 minutes later, he returned and found both in the shaft, not moving.
The shaft goes down 12 to 14 feet, then leads into a 4-by-6-foot bunker where several water pipes come together, Ladd said.
A motorist whose vehicle had broken down nearby noticed that the worker who had dropped off the men was yelling. The motorist walked over, looked down the hole himself, saw the bodies, and called 911, Ladd said.
Emergency workers who responded tested the underground chamber with a remote oxygen sensor and found there wasn't enough to safely go down without a breathing apparatus, Ladd said. They ventilated the manhole, tested again and found there wasn't enough oxygen so they sent rescuers down with breathing equipment.
Triangle Grading and Paving has been cited by state and federal safety inspectors for multiple violations, including one in November 1997 in which a worker burned to death after a hydraulic line on the bulldozer he was operating ruptured and the fluid triggered a fire that engulfed the cab. It paid $3,300 in fines in that incident after the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration blamed poor maintenance, infrequent inspections and inadequate training.
A company spokesman didn't return calls Wednesday afternoon, but the company issued a statement that said it was grieving with the families of Gomez and Benitez, whom it described as valued members of its utility division.
It also defended the company's safety measures.
"We take great pride in our safety and education programs at (T)riangle," the statement said. "We do everything in our power to prevent injuries and deaths in a dangerous occupation. Over the past three years, we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to ensure the safety of hundreds of employees.
"Yesterday, a deadly incident occurred in spite of those efforts, and we are now cooperating with the North Carolina Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Division's investigation of this matter and conducting our own investigation as well."
The statement said the company would have no further comment Wednesday.
The labor department is investigating whether the company followed requirements for working in enclosed spaces with poor ventilation, including whether the workers had been properly trained and equipped, department spokesman Neal O'Briant said.
Such investigations typically take about three months, O'Briant said.
Since 1997, OSHA has cited Triangle for more than three dozen safety violations and levied more than $80,000 in fines, according to U.S. Department of Labor records. In one case last year, the company was fined $57,000 for "willfully" failing to properly protect workers from cave-ins while they labored in an 8-foot trench at a project on Fort Bragg. Triangle eventually negotiated its fine down to $40,000, according to records.
"Triangle Grading and Paving has a history of trenching violations and is fully aware of required safety standards to protect its workers," saidSuzanne Street, OSHA's area director in Raleigh, in a news release announcing the proposed $57,000 fine last year. "This employer continues to put workers at risk by ignoring these safety standards."
Construction companies working in confined spaces where air can't circulate adequately must provide proper training and equipment, such as blowers to force air into the space, or self-contained breathing equipment. In some circumstances, said O'Briant, they must also periodically test the air inside.
It's too early to say what went wrong, said Allen McNeely, director of the state labor department's Occupational Safety and Health Division.
"It is a tragedy," McNeely said. "If it turns out that it was one worker going in, and the other went in to save him when he got no response, then it's almost what you'd expect a buddy to do."
News researcher Brooke Cain and staff writer Regina Wang contributed to this report.
