A non-union Vancouver-based contractor is facing nearly $184,000 in fines after a 3,000-pound bucket fell off an excavator and crushed a worker in a trench on June 3.
Safety latches on two excavators at Rotschy’s Woodland construction site, including the one involved in the incident, had been removed. The purpose of those safety latches was to stop the bucket from falling off in the event of operator error or equipment failure, according to an investigation by the Washington Department of Labor and Industries (L&I).
On June 3, an employee was working in a trench box and giving hand signals to the excavator operator when the bucket fell off and crushed the lower half of his body. The excavator operator tried to lift the bucket off the worker using the excavator’s hydraulic arm, but the bucket slipped and crushed the worker a second time.
The injured employee was rescued by firefighters with Clark-Cowlitz Fire Rescue and was hospitalized for more than a month.
Both the site superintendent and site supervisor told L&I that they knew the safety latches were missing, the department said. Thirteen of Rotschy’s other excavators also did not have the required safety latches.
“These actions demonstrate a blatant disregard for the rules designed to keep workers safe. This young man’s life will be forever impacted by this incident that was entirely preventable,” Craig Blackwood, assistant director of L&I’s occupational safety division, said in a press release announcing the fine.
On Nov. 21, L&I fined Rotschy $170,136 for safety violations related to the incident: $67,320 for removing the safety latches, $67,320 for not providing walkways over excavations at least four feet deep, $13,464 for not using adequate protective systems to prevent cave-ins when workers were inside excavations, $13,464 for a supervisor not removing employees from hazardous areas where a cave-in was possible, $6,732 for not keeping employees out of the range of a shovel or excavator’s bucket swing, and $1,836 for using ladders shorter than the required height. L&I also fined Rotschy $13,770 for confined space violations that were noticed by an investigator responding to the injury incident.
If the citations are finalized, Rotschy will also be added to L&I’s Severe Violators list, which subjects the employer to additional scrutiny.
Rotschy is appealing the fines and citations in both cases to the Board of Industrial Insurance Appeals, L&I said.
“While we plan to appeal portions of the findings, we take the recent inspection seriously and follow a rigorous compliance process to review and address issues,” Rotschy Occupational Health and Communications Director Doug Hiivala said in a statement. “Rotschy is taking meaningful steps to strengthen our safety practices this year, including increasing our safety team and daily job site monitoring process.”
Rotschy was already under scrutiny for a track record of worker safety incidents before the excavator incident took place, including a 2023 incident that resulted in a 16-year-old employee losing both his legs.
After the excavator incident, the Port of Portland and City of Vancouver both hired safety consultants to monitor Rotschy on projects the company is completing for the city and port. On Sept. 8, a Rotschy excavator sank into a log pond while working on a Port of Longview project; the operator escaped unharmed.
Local construction unions have been putting up informational pickets at Rotschy job sites off and on for over a year, warning the public about the company’s safety record.
