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…