While federal officials continue to investigate, work at the Plum Street construction site, where a man died, remains on hold.
Marysville City Engineer Jeremy Hoyt said work on the Plum Street improvements will resume Monday, April 29.
On April 8, a trench at the site collapsed, killing Christopher McDonald, 34, of Nashport.
Hoyt said the city-hired contractor, Urbana-based J&J Schlaegel, had considered bringing in another crew to complete the project but “some of them had a commitment to see this project through.”
With that in mind, the company decided to take a few weeks away from the project.
“That is kind of their effort to ease the crew members back into a regular work schedule,” said Hoyt.
J&J Schlaegel was hired to perform waterline relocation as part of the city project on Plum Street, near the Town Run bridge. McDonald was working for the company.
McDonald was inside a 15-20 feet deep trench without a trench box to protect him when the trench collapsed. Crews worked for more than three hours to recover McDonald’s body.
Lance Emberling, with the county coroner’s office, said McDonald died of compression asphyxia.
Scott Allen, a spokesman with the U.S. Department of Labor, said the Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is investigating the fatal incident.
“We are interviewing potential witnesses, the employer and others to determine if they were following OSHA procedures and regulations.”
Hoyt said a city inspector had been onsite less than five minutes earlier. He said the inspector did not see anyone inside the trench.
Emery said the contractor was preparing to put a trench box in place when McDonald decided to go into the trench. Officials said they do not know why he made the decision to enter the unsecured trench.
Allen said it could be months before there is any information available.
“There really won’t be any information until the investigation is complete,” Allen said. “OSHA tries to complete these investigations pretty quickly, but they have, by law, up to six months to complete them.”
He added that investigations involving a fatality, “most of the time they take the better part of that six months.”
According to OHSA, every year more than 50 workers suffer fatal injuries in trench-related activities, and thousands more are injured in improperly shored or unstable trenches.
Local officials said that even with the investigation and nearly month-long delay, they are optimistic the project will continue as planned.
“I don’t think we have concerns yet,” said City Manager Terry Emery.
He said the city has a bond for the work in case of delays, “so if something happens we do have options.”
“We are not going to choose to go that route unless something else happens,” Emery said.
Additionally, he said officials are not planning to alter the scheduled completion date.
“The contractor feels comfortable they can meet the schedule given where they were on the project,” Emery said.
As part of the project, the city will replace the culvert on Plum Street and repave a stretch of that road.
Hoyt said the culvert on Plum Street is old, and needs to be replaced. He said there are no specific problems with the culvert; it’s simply nearing the end of its 75-100 year lifespan.
The city also plans to widen Plum Street from Ninth Street to the culvert.
A landscaped boulevard section will be included in the entrance to Plum Street form Ninth Street.
The city also plans to repave Plum Street from the culvert to nearly the end of Memorial’s emergency room parking lot.
According to city projections, the project is estimated to cost about $900,000. Memorial Health will pay $200,000 of that total, along with an estimated additional $94,000 to bury utility lines in the area.
Repeated calls to J&J Schlaegel have not been returned.