Trench-safety advocate and mother of a trench-collapse victim Cindy Hess has died in an apparent accident at her home, according to news reports.
Hess, 58, became an outspoken advocate for trench safety after her son Zachary Davis Hess died in a trench collapse in 2017 in Morrow, Ohio, at age 25. She spoke at more than 30 construction and governmental safety meetings since his death. She was known for handing out “Remember Zach” hard hat stickers with the message: “Slope, Shore, Shield.”
“At the close of my talk, I ask for everyone to remember Zach, whether they’re a worker or a supervisor or the owner of a company, and that they make an emotional connection to Zach and his death,” Cindy Hess told Equipment World in a 2019 interview.
Her son Zach Hess was in a 16-foot-deep trench December 28, 2017, working on a sewer project at a housing development when the cave-in occurred. His employer was fined $151,650 for four violations, including inadequate cave-in protection.
After his death, Cindy Hess began speaking at construction and government safety meetings about the dangers of trench collapse and the need for trench boxes to prevent cave-ins. She would speak about Zach, who she said on the day he died had no trench safety training and faced misplaced sewer laterals, mismarked utilities, the lack of jobsite supervision and communication, poorly compacted soil and dangerous lateral depths.
He called out to a co-worker when the trench started collapsing and was buried up to his neck, she recounted. She waited in the cold for hours until 11 that night as more than 100 emergency responders worked to recover his body.
“I’ve been obsessed with investigating the circumstances of Zach’s death, and these people were negligent,” Cindy Hess told Equipment World in 2019. “The bigger picture is all of the things that happened before Zach even got there that day. It was an exercise in futility. He didn’t have a chance.”
By speaking out about his death, she hoped to prevent future trench-collapse injuries and fatalities. She also saw it as a way to honor her son.
“For me, it’s keeping him alive,” she said.
Cindy Hess posted videos of some of her speeches, which can be viewed on her YouTube channel.
