Requirements For Worker Safety In Trenches

This segment did not air today.

Investigators are working to piece together what happened that led to the deaths of two construction workers who died while working in the South End of Boston on Friday.

Fifty-three-year-old Kelvin Mattocks and 47-year-old Robert Higgins were working inside a trench on Dartmouth Street when a water main broke, trapping them inside.

The accident has raised a lot of questions about safety. The company Mattocks and Higgins worked for, Atlantic Drain Service Co., has been designated a "severe" violator by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It owes tens of thousands of dollars in fines.

City and federal officials would not speak with us, citing the ongoing investigations. We turn to a health and safety trainer for a better understanding of what safety protocols are required in this kind of work.

Patricia Strizak, health and safety trainer at the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health.