Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, June 12, 1990                   TAG: 9006120457
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: By NEAL THOMPSON NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                 LENGTH: Medium

DITCH DEATH UNDER INVESTIGATION

Officials with the Department of Labor and Industry's enforcement division visited the scene of Wednesday's cave-in at the Vistavia subdivision behind Christiansburg High School.

"It is under investigation," said Lila Williams, director of public services for the department in Richmond. "But there are still some people at the site that we need to talk to."

Williams said compliance officials in the department's Roanoke office will try to determine whether the construction company violated federal requirements set by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

Simon Peter Eyre, 23, was killed when the 10-foot ditch collapsed on him late Wednesday afternoon.

Eyre was the son of Peter Eyre, dean of Virginia Tech's Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine.

Eyre had been studying marine biology at Old Dominion University in Norfolk. He began working with the construction company Wednesday after returning home to Blacksburg for the summer.

He and other crew members had been working in the ditch running water lines from the subdivision to a nearby field. The crew worked for the Vistavia Development Co., according to a Christiansburg police report.

According to the report, the crew was leaving the ditch and preparing to go home when a foreman told Eyre to get a shovel and some tools that had been left in the ditch.

The foreman turned to walk away when he heard the ditch cave in. He then ran to call for help while two other workers tried to remove Eyre, according to the report.

Edward Via, who the report listed as president of Vistavia Development Co., could not be reached for comment Monday.

The investigation may take about a week, and the results will then be turned over to a review panel which will decide if there were any violations, said Fred Yontz, a Labor Department field supervisor in Richmond.

In "significant cases" where someone dies, a final ruling is made by Commissioner Carol Amato, Yontz said.

OSHA recently instituted a new set of standards that construction companies must meet when digging ditches, said Paul Burns, an occupational safety officer with the Labor Department in Roanoke.

Burns said the guidelines offer a number of options for ways to protect ditches from caving in. A "trench box" or wall brace can be used to support ditch walls or the walls can be sloped, Burns said.

Christiansburg police and Labor Department officials said they did not know whether the Vistavia ditch was sloped or braced.

No workers were at the site Monday, and a yellow police tape surrounded the ditch.

At Virginia Tech, a memorial scholarship has been established in Eyre's name, spokesman Jeff Douglas said.

"A lot of people have been calling to ask what they can do. So it's nice that they can express their concerns in this way," Douglas said.

He said the family has asked that any contributions be made to the Simon Peter Eyre Memorial Scholarship, in care of Joyce Morgan, College of Veterinary Medicine, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Va. 24061.