There was a case of a worker who was buried in a trench. His co-workers worked feverishly to dig down to his head, to expose it so he could breathe. They exposed his head, thinking they had saved him, and they stopped digging.
He suffocated because every time he exhaled, the soil collapsed further around his diaphragm, until he could no longer inhale.
There is another case where a worker was buried in a trench. They used a backhoe to dig him out. The soil that had fallen into the trench had moved his body to a new position, but the backhoe operator didn't know that. The hoe operator digging adjacent to the man's last known position.
With one scoop, the backhoe bucket cut off the guy's head.
Trench/burial accidents are no small matter. That's why there are OSHA regs about shoring and trench boxes.
Ain’t no doubt about getting the safety protocols in place.
But things happen.
OSHA can kiss my scars.