Opinion ID: 1701237
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: construction site and accident

Text: To construct the bridge, WeWeldit erected a concrete headwall parallel with and on each side of the creek. Each headwall supplied the main support for the bridge and roadbed overhead. To support each headwall and prevent water from coursing between the headwall and the creek bank, a vertical wingwall was attached at each end of the headwall and ran obliquely into the creek's bank for a distance of 20 feet. Construction of a wingwall required a trench immediately adjacent to the wall for work at the base of and along that wall, such as securing the wingwall's attachment to the headwall. For that excavation, Karl Neumeister, a county employee, appeared with the county's backhoe at the construction site to dig the wingwall trench. Inasmuch as Husker Steel had no active participatory role in erecting the bridge, no one from Husker Steel was present for the excavation by Neumeister. Although WeWeldit's foreman indicated the centerline, depth, and length of the proposed wingwall trench, the foreman did not direct or supervise Neumeister regarding the width of the trench or the slope from the bottom of the trench to the surface of the creek bank. Along the wingwall, Neumeister excavated a trench which was 13 feet deep, 19 feet long, and 5 feet wide at the top of the trench. Before WeWeldit's employees, including Eugene McKinstry, entered the trench to work on the wingwall, WeWeldit's foreman inspected and approved the trench excavated by Neumeister. While WeWeldit's employees were working in the trench along the wingwall, Neumeister noticed that McKinstry was digging in the creek bank, which formed a trench wall, trying to keep water from seeping into the trench. Approximately 3 hours after Neumeister had left the construction site, the trench collapsed, burying McKinstry, who died from asphyxiation.