A Colorado contractor who pleaded guilty in August to reckless manslaughter for the death of an employee in a trench collapse in 2021 has been sentenced to 90 days in jail and four years of probation.
Peter Dillon, 54, pleaded guilty August 3, 2023, after being charged January 26 with reckless manslaughter, a felony. A Summit County Court judge handed down the sentence November 9, which also includes 300 hours of community service, according to the District Attorney’s Office for the 5th Judicial District.
The former owner of A4S Construction of Vail was charged following the death of employee Marlon Alfredo Diaz, 23, who was installing a sewer line November 16, 2021, at a residential construction site overlooking the Breckenridge Ski Resort. Two other workers were also in the trench but were able to escape unharmed.
Inspectors with the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration determined there was inadequate cave-in protection, among other violations. On December 20, 2021, OSHA inspectors also observed a similar violation of workers on the same construction site in a section of a trench that did not have cave-in protection.
“Between August and December 2021, the employer routinely assigned workers to work inside trenches that were not protected from cave-ins by an adequate protective system,” according to OSHA’s citation issued May 13, 2022.
A4S was issued penalties totaling $450,000. Dillon contested the violations, and the penalties were reduced to $100,000, according to OSHA online records.
“Our investigation found that this employer willfully sent workers into unprotected trenches at a site with a history of cave-ins and continued to expose workers to the same conditions even after the fatality,” said OSHA Area Director Amanda Kupper in Denver at the time of the citation.
