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Precautions must be made to protect workers in trenches like this one in Lawrenceville in 2015.
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Plumber admits accountability for fatal trench collapse in 2015

Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette

Plumber admits accountability for fatal trench collapse in 2015

A Beaver County plumber has admitted to willfully violating federal regulations and causing the death of a 21-year-old man in a trench collapse three years ago in Butler County.

Wayne George, doing business for Freedom-based “A Rooter Man of Pittsburgh,” pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday in connection with the death of Jacob Casher of Clearfield County on Sept. 28, 2015.

Mr. George was charged by complaint in September with one count of violating Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations causing death.

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Prosecutors said he violated standards to protect his workers against cave-ins at a work site in Penn Township. Mr. Casher, a Rooter Man employee, was helping replace a sewer line 11 feet below the surface of unstable soil with no cave-in protection when the trench collapsed on him.

OSHA had previously cited Mr. George and his company for nine violations carrying $174,000 in penalties.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Reed Eddy will sentence him in February.

First Published: November 28, 2017, 10:52 p.m.

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Precautions must be made to protect workers in trenches like this one in Lawrenceville in 2015.  (Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette)
Darrell Sapp/Post-Gazette
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