...to extricate him completely. He was alive and appeared in good condition. He could tell rescuers what day it was but didn’t remember how the trench collapsed. "If we hadn’t acted as quickly as we did, he would have died," Grice says. "There were many heroes that day."

How to Save a Life

Turn off equipment and halt nearby traffic to avoid secondary collapses.

Know the trench depth, who was working in it and whether materials and equipment were also trapped.

Let rescue professionals do their job.

Causes of Death

The worker involved was lucky, say experts. Trench accidents usually kill victims almost immediately. From 1992 to 2001, 236 construction workers died in trench accidents, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Many who are pulled out alive ultimately die from their injuries. Most victims suffer from mechanical asphyxia, in which the weight of the dirt, about 3,000 lb per cu yd, compresses the chest. This prevents victims’ rib cages from expanding for breathing, says Dr. Greg Davis, deputy medical examiner for Jefferson County, Ala.

Victims who don’t suffocate can suffer from compartment syndrome, in which blood flow to muscles, especially in the legs, is cut off. While many people understand that death can occur in minutes without oxygen flow to the brain, few realize that muscles can also start to die if oxygen-starved, a condition known as necrosis. Irreversible damage can occur in as little as 10 minutes.

Necrosis causes lactic acid to build up in the body. Once a victim is pulled to safety and bloodflow restarts, acid enters the blood stream and can upset electrolyte balance. "When that balance is compromised, results are often catastrophic," says Davis. "The body will have difficulty overcoming such an assault.’’ In fact, it will not recover if balance is not restored. The blood’s normal pH is 7.4, so "while 7.1 doesn’t sound bad, it is," he adds. "There is a very tight tolerance.’’ Specialized trench rescue teams carry sodium bicarbonate, which is administered intravenously to restore pH to its normal level, says Capt. Steven F. Tatum, head of Cobb County, Ga.’s trench rescue team.

Cobb County takes a more measured approach. "People think we’ll arrive, jump down in the trench and start digging,’’ says Tatum. In fact, it takes time. The team lays down ground pads to distribute their weight, prepares the lip of the trench and moves spoil away.

The county has a vacuum truck to suck away trench dirt, speedier than the traditional method of removing it with 5-gal buckets. Tatum advises workers at the scene of a cave-in to turn off equipment and halt traffic nearby to avoid vibrations that may cause secondary collapses.

Workers and bystanders should be kept back a distance of about 50 ft, says Capt. David Dusik, executive assistant to the Gwinnett County, Ga., fire chief. "About 75% of would-be rescuers become victims,’’ he adds. The construction foreman should note the number of victims and their last known site location. The time of the accident, depth of the trench and any materials or equipment also trapped is helpful to rescuers.

Gwinnett County averages two to three trench collapses a year, but there was a 63% rise in U.S. trench fatalities in 2003, says Teresa Harrison, deputy regional administrator of the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s southeast region.

One big challenge is to end the "it- won’t-happen-to-me’’ attitude in construction perpetuated by those lucky enough not to have suffered an accident, says John Moore, safety manager for

Regional Transit Partners, Atlanta, who spearheaded a new government-contractor trench safety alliance in metropolitan Atlanta. "Too many contractors are playing the odds," he says.