Missouri Plumber Fined $714,000 After Fatal Trench Collapse

A Missouri plumbing contractor whose employee died in a trench collapse has been fined $714,000 for that incident and for failing to take quick action to make sure its workers were protected from future accidents.

The fatal accident occurred in December 2016, when a 12-foot trench collapsed on a worker at a home-construction site in Belton, Mo., just outside of Kansas City. The contractor was Arrow Plumbing LLC, of Blue Springs, Mo.

But federal safety inspectors taking a look at another of the contractor’s work sites a month later found employees working once again in an ...