A Denver man says an early morning attempt to get warm in a commercial dumpster in RiNo nearly cost him his life, and he is now suing the trash hauler for negligence. His complaint says the bin was picked up, emptied into a front-loader truck, and compacted while he was still inside, leaving him with severe, permanent injuries. At the heart of the case is a basic question: did the driver and company do the safety checks that are supposed to happen before anything gets compacted?
What the lawsuit says
According to the complaint, Steven Egloff climbed into a dumpster around 5:30 a.m. on April 16, 2025, to get warm and fell asleep. The front-load bin was later emptied into a Waste Connections truck and compacted while he was inside. Court filings say he suffered fractures to his arms, ribs, and spine, lacerations to his head and a severe degloving injury, and that he required extended hospitalization.
Egloff told Westword, "I'm happy to be alive, but I still have a lot of physical and mental issues caused by that experience."
Industry standards and safety gaps
Egloff's lawyers argue the company failed to perform two simple checks that could have saved him: visually inspecting the dumpster before lifting it and looking into the truck's hopper before compacting. They say those steps are required under widely accepted safe-work practices.
Federal safety reporting and standards warn about the dangers associated with compactors and outline controls such as machine guards, safety interlocks, and lockout-tagout procedures. These hazards and recommended safeguards are detailed in CDC/NIOSH reporting and in ANSI collection and compaction standards. OSHA enforcement guidance and investigations have also repeatedly stressed the need for procedures that make sure the compactor and surrounding area are clear before rams are activated, in order to prevent catastrophic injuries.
Other recent Colorado cases raise alarm
This type of accident has shown up elsewhere in Colorado this year. In Larimer County, authorities said investigators searched a landfill after security footage showed a 57-year-old man entering a dumpster in January, and the load was later deposited at the county landfill.
In Pueblo, police responded on April 18 after a worker discovered an injured man trapped in a garbage truck's storage area. That person was pronounced dead at the scene, according to local reporting. Taken together, the incidents have raised pointed questions about how often haulers encounter people in or among trash loads and what protections are actually being used on the ground.
Legal hurdles the suit will face
The lawsuit frames its claims as negligence against both the driver and Waste Connections. It alleges negligent hiring and training and a failure to follow industry protocols for safely checking bins and hoppers before compacting.
Under Colorado's Premises Liability Act (C.R.S. § 13-21-115, as published by Justia), liability for injuries that occur on another party's property depends in part on the injured person's legal status and whether the conduct at issue was "willful or deliberate." Courts will have to decide how a commercial dumpster and its pickup are treated for purposes of that statute and what duty, if any, the hauler owed in this situation.
The complaint does not claim that the company's conduct was willful or deliberate, which could shape how the case moves through civil court. For now, the lawsuit is in its early stages. If it proceeds, it could test how trash haulers, property owners, and cities address the reality that people sometimes shelter in bins and what specific steps drivers must take to make sure a bin and truck hopper are clear before compaction begins.
