ContractOne Inc.
Outcome
Owner Bryan Johnson was sentenced to 10 months in jail, three years of probation, and $25,000 in restitution after worker Rosario Martinez died in a Granby, Colorado trench collapse that Johnson knew was at risk of caving.
Details
ContractOne Inc. — Fatal Trench Collapse / Criminal Sentence (2018–2021)
Outcome: Owner Bryan Johnson was sentenced to 10 months in jail, three years of probation, and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution to the family of worker Rosario Martinez, who died after a Granby, Colorado trench collapsed around him during water-line installation.
On June 14, 2018, Rosario Martinez was installing a water service line at a residential construction site in Granby, Colorado when the trench he was working in collapsed. Martinez was an employee of ContractOne Inc., an Avon, Colorado construction firm owned by Bryan Johnson. Crucially, the trench had already partially collapsed the day before the fatality — a visible warning sign that Johnson ignored and did not act on to change procedures. Martinez's own son was working on the site and assisted first responders in digging his father out of the trench. Martinez later died at a nearby hospital from his injuries.
OSHA investigated the collapse and found that ContractOne willfully failed to install a required trench protective system. The agency also found the company failed to conduct regular site inspections to correct hazardous conditions, did not place excavated soil piles a safe distance from the trench edges, failed to provide ladders for egress, and did not use appropriate utility-location procedures during trenching operations.
Bryan Johnson was charged by Grand County prosecutors with reckless endangerment and assault. He pleaded guilty on June 16, 2021 — three years after the fatality — to two counts of reckless endangerment and one count of third-degree assault. At sentencing in July 2021, the Grand County judge sentenced Johnson to 10 months in jail, three years of probation, required him to pay up to $25,000 in restitution to the Martinez family, mandated contributions to local charities, ordered OSHA-access to any future Johnson job sites, and required safety training before he could resume construction work.
Primary Source: Colorado court sentences Avon construction company owner to jail, orders restitution for family of worker killed in Granby trench collapse
How Crucible Prevents This
A daily site-condition log requirement would have captured the trench collapse the day before the fatality. Mandatory competent-person sign-off before any trench re-entry would have triggered a stop-work condition. An OSHA repeat-citation alert would have flagged ContractOne's history before permit issuance.
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