3 Construction Workers, Company Charged In Fatal SF Trench Collapse: DA

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — San Francisco prosecutors filed involuntary manslaughter charges against three construction workers and a company accused of failing to properly secure a trench that would later collapse and kill a laborer, authorities said.

Bay Area residents John Finbarr D'Arcy, Filiberto Poblano Perez, John William Tobin and D’Arcy & Harty Construction, Inc. each face one count of involuntary manslaughter and four counts of violation of a safety standard resulting in the death of an employee stemming from the death of their colleague on Sept. 28, 2023, according to the San Francisco District Attorney's Office.

D’Arcy & Harty Construction, Inc. was contracted by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission to work on a sewer tunnel rehabilitation project, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors say the victim was working for the company in a two-and-a-half-foot-wide, five-foot-long, and eight-foot-deep trench near the corner of Oak and Divisadero streets when it suddenly caved in.

The victim would die of mechanical asphyxia, prosecutors said.

Finbarr D'Arcy was the company's site safety representative, Tobin was the project manager and Poblano Perez was the crew foreman at the time of the victim's death, prosecutors said.

A Cal/OSHA inspector reviewed the death and found the trench was not properly supported before it caved in, prosecutors said.

In the weeks before the fatal trench collapse, the construction company was also the subject of a safety complaint on another project where a trench supposedly lacked adequate support, prosecutors said.

The defendants have since appeared in court and pleaded not guilty to the charges against them, prosecutors said.