Lawsuit claims construction worker killed was buried alive

LAS VEGAS (KVVU/Gray News) - A lawsuit claims a construction worker was buried alive while working on a project in the Las Vegas valley earlier this year.

KVVU reports that 32-year-old Rigoberto Canas Ramos died in what the coroner determined was an accident on March 31 in the northwest part of town.

Ramos was doing trench work at a construction site. Fire officials in Las Vegas said a trench collapsed at the site.

A lawsuit claims Ramos’ fellow workers rushed to the trench to locate him and found a substantial amount of dirt had been poured into the trench.

According to the complaint, other workers rushed to rescue Ramos by frantically digging by hand and using an excavator to remove about five feet of dirt from the trench.

Attorneys claim no safety consultants were at the property or nearby, and Ramos was buried alive.

According to the complaint, Ramos was working for a subcontractor of KB Home. It 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.

The complaint continued, saying other construction accidents and/or near-misses had occurred before Ramos’ death without any response to ensure future accidents would not occur.

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 15 all last year, according to the report.

In response, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said it’s adding stricter enforcement to protect workers by performing more than 1,000 trench inspections at construction sites across the country.

Copyright 2022 KVVU via Gray Media Group, Inc. All rights reserved.