Crews rescue construction worker trapped in trench under backhoe in Oshawa
(The Star Food)

A worker pinned by heavy machinery in an Oshawa trench Tuesday morning was successfully rescued and is on his way to hospital.The man was pinned under the bucket of a backhoe while working on a water main on Verdun Avenue just north of Eulalie Avenue around 8 a.m.Oshawa Fire Services deputy chief Todd Wood reports the man was rescued at about 10:10 a.m.“He’s now in the care of EMS and in the process of being transported to a trauma centre,” said Wood, adding that the man was conscious when he was rescued.“Everyone did a fantastic job, it’s a long arduous process, it took us a few hours, we had many obstacles to overcome, the heavy bucket being one of them,” said Wood. He explains that firefighters had to shore up the walls before they could get into the trench to rescue the man and the conditions in the trench were muddy making it difficult to get a good footing to lift the bucket.Ultimately firefighters were able to rig the bucket up to a hauling device and then used people power to lift it off the man.“There was a line of firefighters and we just took one step at at time to lift the bucket and tilt it off of him until we were able to free him,” said Wood. “Everyone did their jobs safely and professionally and we couldn’t be more proud of them.”The deputy chief confirmed that the Ministry of Labour was called to investigate the incident.