Opinion ID: 1726853
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: hughes' accident

Text: Sometime between June 14 and June 22, 2001, Hughes and Steven Sinnett, another Burton employee, began the work of cleaning the buried conduit along 120th Street. They used a specialized commercial pressure washer called a jetter which they inserted into the empty conduit from a manhole access point located on the east side of 120th Street south of Miracle Hills Drive. They extended the jetter through the conduit to the next manhole access point to the north, a distance of about 400 to 500 feet. When the jetter had been completely fed through the conduit, they connected a separate cable to the jetter head and attempted to pull the jetter and cable back through the conduit. During this process, the jetter became stuck. Burton employees used various methods to attempt to dislodge the jetter from the conduit, but were unsuccessful. At some point, Burton informed NebCom of the situation. The NebCom maintenance supervisor testified that she offered to hire an excavation contractor to retrieve the jetter for Burton, but Hughes declined that offer, indicating that Burton was capable of such excavation project. On or about June 27, 2001, Burton employees Danny Anderson and Richard Griffen were sent to excavate in the area of the stuck jetter. They were under the supervision of Morse. Based on the estimated amount of jetter hose which had been fed into the conduit, they began digging a hole about 300 feet south of Miracle Hills Drive. The evidence reflects that no one from Burton called Diggers Hotline before commencing this excavation. However, Anderson, Griffen, and Morse testified that they saw paint markings along the sidewalk indicating the existence of buried utilities. The record indicates that another excavating contractor had previously called Diggers Hotline regarding excavation work on the east side of 120th Street, south of Miracle Hills Drive, which was unrelated to this action. Because they were aware from markings on the ground that other buried utilities, including electrical lines were in the area, Anderson and Griffen used shovels and a probe rod, instead of a backhoe, to excavate. Griffen testified: We hand-excavated all the utilities because there were so many utilities right in that area there is no way that you could safely get a piece of equipment in there to excavate it. So we hand-dug everything. In this manner, they exposed four conduits. Anderson testified that his instructions were not to touch anything, but to just dig it up, expose it, and leave it. Morse testified that he and Hughes discussed the situation at the 120th Street jobsite at Burton's shop on June 27, 2001. Morse informed Hughes that he intended to place a request through Diggers Hotline to have the utility companies, including OPPD, come to the site to identify the exposed conduits. Morse testified that he mentioned the risk of electrocution and told Hughes not to cut any of the conduits until they were identified. Morse also testified that on the following morning, while working with Hughes at another jobsite, he again told him not to cut any of the exposed conduits at the 120th Street site until they were identified. Morse told Hughes that he had to go to another site, but that he would meet him at the 120th Street site and that Hughes should not do anything until Morse arrived there. On the morning of June 28, 2001, Sinnett arrived at the 120th Street site and attempted to use an RDC GatorCam system owned by Burton to verify that the stuck jetter was located in the excavated area. Sinnett pushed a metal fish tape into the conduit as far as it would go, thereby reaching the location at which he assumed the jetter was stuck. He then connected one Gator transmitter lead to the fish tape and the other lead to a grounding rod. Using the Gator locator, Sinnett was able to detect a signal emanating from the fish tape. The signal was not detected by the Gator locator beyond the excavated hole. Sinnett concluded that the jetter was located in one of the exposed conduits in the excavation. Hughes arrived at the excavation scene later that morning. He used the Gator locator in the same manner as had Sinnett. Standing in the excavation, Hughes then used a multipurpose handtool to tap on each of the four exposed conduits. Sinnett heard Hughes say that one of the conduits sounded hollow, and then Sinnett observed as Hughes began cutting it with the handtool. Another eyewitness, Burton employee Paul Barrett, testified that immediately before cutting the conduit, Hughes joked about the possibility that it might be a sprinkler line and that he could be sprayed with water. Sinnett, Barrett, and Anderson, who was also present at the jobsite, testified that shortly after Hughes began cutting into the conduit, a ball of fire erupted from the excavated hole. After the fire subsided, the three pulled Hughes from the excavation. Hughes suffered severe burn injuries from which he died on the following day.