Texas firm pleads responsible to 2021 development employee trench loss of life : NPR

[ad_1] <img src="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5756x3837+0+0/resize/1100/quality/50/format/jpeg/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F79%2F3e%2Fa084eee442128105eab23df77578%2F20250826-trenchdeath-09.JPG" data-template="https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims3/default/strip/false/crop/5756x3837+0+0/resize/{width}/quality/{quality}/format/{format}/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnpr-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F79%2F3e%2Fa084eee442128105eab23df77578%2F20250826-trenchdeath-09.JPG" class="img" alt="Travis County District Attorney José P. Garza and Rosa Isela Batalla Morales and sit in his office. Austin-based D Guerra Construction LLC agreed to plead guilty in connection with the death of Batalla Morales' son, Juan José Galvan Batalla, who died in October 2021 when a 13-foot-deep trench caved while he was working." fetchpriority="high"/> Travis County District Legal professional José P. Garza and Rosa Isela Batalla Morales and sit in his workplace. Austin-based D Guerra Building LLC agreed to plead responsible in reference to the loss of life of Batalla Morales' son, Juan José Galvan Batalla, who died in October 2021 when a 13-foot-deep trench caved whereas he was working. Lorianne Willett/KUT Information disguise caption

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Lorianne Willett/KUT Information A Texas development firm that was certainly one of scores throughout the nation whose staff have died after trenches they had been working in collapsed, reached a plea deal Tuesday with prosecutors.

Austin-based D Guerra Building LLC agreed to plead responsible in reference to the loss of life of Juan José Galvan Batalla, 24, of Bastrop, Texas. The corporate was indicted final yr after he and one other employee had been putting in a residential water line in Travis County in October 2021 when the 13-foot-deep trench caved. The ditch had additionally confronted a partial collapse earlier within the day, and each had been advised to return anyway. Galvan Batalla died every week after the collapse attributable to traumatic asphyxia, based on the Travis County Medical Examiner's Workplace. The opposite employee was severely injured.

"On the finish of the day, we merely can not tolerate employers in Travis County who create such unsafe work situations that individuals who work can change into severely injured or die," Travis County District Legal professional José P. Garza mentioned in an interview on Tuesday with Texas Public Radio.

The development firm didn't return a name searching for remark.

A Travis County grand jury final fall indicted D Guerra Building LLC and an organization supervisor, Carlos Alejandro Guerrero, on criminally negligent murder fees. The corporate pleaded responsible in July to a lesser cost — assault inflicting bodily harm, a misdemeanor. The case towards Guerrero is ongoing.

Garza mentioned it was the primary time for the reason that early '90s {that a} company had pleaded responsible over a employee's loss of life in Travis County. When asserting the indictments in 2024, he cited an NPR, Texas Public Radio and 1A investigation that yr, which discovered that 250 individuals died between 2013 and 2023 when trenches they had been working in collapsed. Specialists mentioned the deaths had been preventable. The investigation additionally discovered that solely 11 employers had been criminally charged in cases the place staff died. Most offenders received off with a wonderful, probation or little jail time.

The Occupational Security and Well being Administration (OSHA) present in 2022 that Galvan Batalla's employer was at fault for his loss of life, fined the corporate almost $140,000, and referred the case to native prosecutors for potential legal prosecution.

The OSHA investigation discovered that the development firm did not implement required security techniques like a trench field and failed to coach staff on the hazards of working in trenches. OSHA defines trenches as slim excavations deeper than they're broad. All trenches deeper than 5 ft require security techniques like a trench field, a pair of metallic partitions connected by metallic rods that maintain trenches secure and forestall soil from falling onto staff.

Rosa Isela Batalla Morales, the sufferer's mom, mentioned she was glad with the plea deal.

"Though nothing will convey him again, I feel it will assist many individuals who work in development," she mentioned. "Building firms needs to be extra cautious with their employees and never allow them to enter with out safety only for the sake of fulfilling a contract."

D Guerra Building LLC's plea deal features a pre-sentencing settlement that, if accomplished, will enable them to keep away from a major monetary penalty. It requires the corporate to implement a sequence of recent security trainings for development staff and supervisors and implement new security processes, together with an nameless reporting technique for staff' security issues. They need to additionally rent two new full-time security staff, and an impartial security monitor authorized by the prosecutor's workplace to overview its new processes over the subsequent yr.

"What is de facto vital to us, and what was actually vital to the household, is that we had processes in place to attempt to change the tradition of this office," Garza mentioned. "There will probably be particular coaching for trenches and methods to forestall trench collapse."

Garza mentioned that he hoped the case would immediate different Travis County employers to guard their staff.

Batalla Morales mentioned that though nothing can convey again her son, she is happy that the matter has been resolved.

"All I requested for was justice," she mentioned. "I by no means requested for something dangerous for anybody.

"I feel I've had justice," she mentioned. "It did consolation me a bit of that the corporate mentioned 'sure, I am responsible,' as a result of they had been responsible–for me–and now they're responsible earlier than the regulation."

This story is a collaboration from NPR's Station Investigations Group, which helps native investigative journalism, and Texas Public Radio.

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Texas firm pleads responsible to 2021 development employee trench loss of life : NPR

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