Lawsuit claims construction worker killed in northwest Las Vegas was ‘buried alive’
By Drew Andre
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LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KVVU) — A new lawsuit claims a construction worker was buried alive during a project in the Northwest valley this spring.
32-year-old Rigoberto Canas Ramos died in what the coroner determined was an accident on March 31 near Kyle Canyon and Oso Blanca roads.
Ramos was doing trench work at the construction site.
A new lawsuit claims, “Rigo’s fellow employees immediately rushed to the trench where he went to retrieve the tools to try and locate Rigo and found that a substantial amount of dirt had been poured into the trench.”
Fire officials said a trench collapsed on the construction site.
The other workers rushed to rescue Ramos by frantically digging by hand and even using an excavator to remove the about five feet of dirt from the trench, according to the complaint.
Attorneys claim no safety consultants were at the property or nearby when Ramos was ‘buried alive.’
He was working for a subcontractor of KB Home. The complaint alleges the home builder, and its hired safety company, Customized Safety and Quality Solutions didn’t have, “any personnel overseeing construction on a reasonably frequent basis throughout construction, and other construction accidents and/or “near-misses” had already occurred prior to Rigo’s death without any response by KB or CSQS to ensure future accidents would not occur.”
FOX5 reached out to both companies Wednesday night for comment but did not receive an immediate response.
The Department of Labor said in the first six months of this year, 22 workers nationwide have died from hazards in trenching and excavation work. There were just 15 all of last year, according to the report.
In response, OSHA said it’s adding stricter enforcement to protect workers.
OSHA said it will perform more than 1,000 trench inspections at construction sites across the country this year.
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