A state workplace-safety agency has begun an investigation into an accident that killed two people last week who were working on a septic-system project in Delta Junction.
Two investigators with the Alaska Occupational Safety and Health Section spent Monday and Tuesday at the site of the accident, where two Delta residents died last week.,
Authorities said the 13-foot-deep trench they were working in collapsed and buried them.
Alaska State Troopers identified the victims as 68-year-old Paul Hebert and 71-year-old Jackie Wilder.
Dale Williamson is the Occupational Safety and Health Section’s chief of enforcement. He said Tuesday the investigators examined the site and interviewed workers at the medical clinic a few hundred feet away from where the cave-in occurred.
“Our job is to go in and gather the facts and assess whether or not any occupational safety and health regulations were not being adhered to at the time of the accident,” he said.
Williamson says he can’t say much more about the investigation – but he did share one of its findings: “ I can tell you there were no outside contractors.”
That’s because Hebert did maintenance work for Dr. Ray Andreassen, who owns and operates the Family Medical Center.
“ I had two people that were working for me, Jacqueline Wilder and Paul Hebert, repairing a broken sewer line at my clinic,” he said. “They had a devastating accident, and both of them perished.”
Andreassen said Tuesday that he and his staff are suffering from shock and grief, because Hebert and Wilder were more than just employees.
“ It is really devastating to our staff,to myself. They have been friends and coworkers and helpers in keeping the Family Medical Center open for decades and … We certainly give our condolences to the both families, with the death of their loved ones.”
A memorial service for Hebert will be held Friday at the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Clearwater Road.
Williamson said the Occupational Safety and Health Section has six months to complete the investigation.
“We try to get our cases completed much faster than that, but it's really highly dependent on the circumstances of the investigation,” he said. “Documents that may be needed, reports that we may need from other agencies. So, it can vary.”
Meanwhile, Alaska State Troopers also are investigating the accident. A trooper spokesperson said Saturday their investigation only seeks to determine if any criminal conduct contributed to a person’s death.
