Rotschy Fined in Washington Trench Injury

By: Nick Morgan
Source: The Daily News, Longview, Wash. (TNS)

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries has issued a nearly $14,000 fine for worker safety violations in the aftermath of the June 3 incident in Woodland where a trench worker was airlifted to the hospital after the boom of an excavator fell on him.

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Vancouver-based Rotschy Inc. was fined for five “serious” violations at 1920 Lewis River Rd. outside Woodland. Leading up to the worker’s injury on June 3, employees were installing a new underground storm drain system, according to the citation posted to the state agency’s website on Monday.

Dina Lorraine, a spokesperson with L&I, confirmed in an email to The Daily News Thursday that the five violations conclude the state agency’s investigation into the incident.

“We only issue the citation when the inspection is complete,” Lorraine said.

Rotschy has a $44 million contract with the Port of Longview handling the port’s Industrial Rail Corridor Expansion project.

The project was temporarily paused earlier this summer, after the trench worker injury in Woodland, combined with prior concerns raised by union labor leaders about the nonunion contractor’s checkered safety record, notably including a 2023 injury in La Center in which a 16-year-old worker lost his legs while operating a trencher.

The port then hired an independent safety auditor and port commissioners closely scrutinized the contractor’s health and safety plan.

The complaint

There are minimal details about the circumstances behind the trench worker’s injury in the L&I citation, but it lists five Washington Administrative Code violations classified as “serious” related to permit-required confined spaces.

More specifically, it states that Rotschy failed to identify and evaluate hazards before entering a permit-required confined space; that the company failed to complete an entry permit; that the company failed to ensure adequate rescue and emergency services were available; that the company “did not ensure that entry supervisors were aware of hazards”; and that the company failed to ensure attendants above knew of the hazardous conditions and their duties.

Each of the five violations carries the same penalty amount of $2,754. Combined the total penalty due is $13,770.

When reached for comment, Doug Hiivala, director of occupational health and communications at Rotschy provided the following statement:

“The safety of our team and customers is our top priority, and we have a robust training and compliance process on all job sites. The Rotschy team has worked closely and cooperatively with L&I throughout their review of the incident. We continually evaluate our safety systems to ensure they meet or exceed regulatory requirements. We appreciate the opportunity to work with regulators, third-party auditors, and our team members as we strengthen our safety culture and maintain the highest standards across all Rotschy projects.”

The violations

The five violations each touch on work on an underground storm drain system for the new construction project, and more specifically involve permit-required confined space work on a roughly 10-foot tall precast concrete manhole structure.

According to earlier news reports, the storm drain construction was part of an 85-unit subdivision being built on Lewis River Road near the intersection of Insel Road.

Each individual violation in the citation touches on a hazard or alleged oversight that L&I states “can lead to serious injuries involving permanent disability, death or chronic irreversible illness.”

One of the violations states that Rotschy “did not identify and evaluate, prior to entry, potential hazards within a permit-required confined space and the work to be performed.” It goes on to state that the workers failed to identify “the potential for uncontrolled physical hazards” should “lateral displacement” occur.

The second violation states Rotschy “did not ensure that an entry permit was completed” before workers entered the confined space.

The citation leaves it unclear how the entry permit was incomplete. It only states that Rotschy employees entered and assisted with entering the concrete structure “without completing an entry permit that contained all required information.”

A third violation states that Rotschy “did not ensure that adequate rescue and emergency services were available” during work in the confined space, as was required.

The fourth and fifth violations surround the knowledge of attendants above ground and a supervisor. The supervisor was among workers who had entered the confined space.

“During the inspection it was determined that the entry supervisor, who was also an entrant working in the space, was unaware of the potential for uncontrolled physical hazards within the space in the event of event of lateral displacement,” the citation states.

Since the Woodland incident, Rotschy has had one “property damage incident” that damaged an excavator but caused no injuries or environmental damage, as well as one injury in which a worker reportedly threw out their back, Port of Longview staff told commissioners Wednesday.

Regular inspections conducted by Integrity Safety Services of Vancouver for the Port of Longview, conducted Oct. 6, 16, 23, 29 and Nov. 3 and included in the port’s agenda packet, showed Rotschy fully complying on checklists touching a range of safety items from seatbelts to signage to protective gear. The reports flagged no safety issues.

The Woodland citation was not mentioned at Wednesday morning’s regular Port of Longview commissioner meeting. Port staff were, however, questioned about a pair of recent visits from L&I auditors: one of which involved the agency arriving unannounced. Burton described the inspection as at the behest of a journalist from another news outlet.

L&I did not provide information about the inspection’s findings, if any.

Director of Facilities and Engineering William Burton told commissioners that L&I conducted the “surprise” inspection in response to recent news reports about the property damage incident in which the excavator fell. The L&I inspector met with port officials including Burton, along with leadership from Rotschy, and “went over the peripherals” of the incident, Burton told commissioners.

“They went out and inspected the site and took a look at everything and thus far we haven’t heard anything back, but I heard it was a good meeting,” Burton said.

Commissioner Jeff Wilson asked Burton for details because “everybody is connected,” and “even surprise visitors are connected.” He highlighted port staff’s safety efforts and said he wanted to ensure all parties were working together to keep the job site safe.

“I don’t want to have trial by newspaper,” Wilson said.

Another recent L&I inspection had been a scheduled one, Burton told commissioners Wednesday. It involved a worker who had injured his back while moving equipment.

“It was so bad that they ended up having to go to the hospital,” Burton told commissioners. As of Wednesday, the worker is still out.

The hospital visit automatically triggered a scheduled L&I inspection.

“That was not a surprise audit or investigation,” Burton said. “That was just standard procedure.”

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