An independent contractor was found dead at the bottom of an eight-foot-deep underground vault at a sawmill. The contractor was there to perform an annual inspection of the backflow device of the mill’s waterline. At 3:30 p.m. the contractor arrived at the sawmill and proceeded with the inspection. This was his fourth year conducting this inspection at the mill. He removed the steel cover of the manhole and lowered a ladder into the eight-foot-deep vault. There was 14 inches of water in the bottom of the vault. At 4:00 p.m. a truck driver arrived at the sawmill to pick up a load […]