L&I fines 3 companies for fatal trench collapse at wind farm on Lewis-Thurston county line
Three companies are facing fines after a state Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) investigation found safety violations connected to a trench collapse that killed one man and injured another at a wind farm work site near the Lewis-Thurston county line earlier this year, L&I announced Thursday.
The work was tied to the Skookumchuck wind energy project that was developing a 38-turbine wind farm, according to The Olympian’s previous reporting.
All told, the companies — RES System 3 LLC, RES America Construction Inc., and GEMS — face over a half million dollars in fines. RES America was the general contractor for the project and hired RES System 3 to construct the wind farm, according to L&I. GEMS was contracted to provide medical services at the site.
L&I completed its investigation about a week ago, Director of Communications Tim Church told The Olympian, and the companies have been notified of its findings.
What happened during the collapse
A trench at the site collapsed the morning of Jan. 9, according to The Olympian’s previous reporting.
In a news release issued Thursday, L&I details its understanding of the events that followed, which Church confirmed are based on the department’s investigation.
According to the news release, an RES System 3 employee had just entered a trench 15 feet deep to “position a bore pipe so it could be placed underneath a culvert by an excavator” when part of the trench collapsed and pinned the man.
Another worker and the person operating the excavator jumped in to rescue the first man. Another, larger trench then collapsed and trapped the rescuers. The excavator operator, buried to his knees, freed himself and called for help, according to L&I.
RES America and RES System 3 employees and managers responded, along with GEMS medics, and several people took turns entering the unprotected trench to try to dig out the workers.
A medic pronounced the worker who jumped into the trench after the initial collapse dead at the scene, according to the release. The initial worker buried in the collapse was eventually freed, but seriously injured, and airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.
According to The Olympian’s previous reporting, the man who died was Jonathan F. Stringer, a 24-year-old from Chehalis. He worked for Aerotek, according to L&I, a temporary labor agency RES System 3 had contracted.
An online fundraiser for Stringer’s family launched Jan. 13 had collected over $25,000 as of this week.
The violations
L&I cited RES System 3 for eight violations — three willful, three serious, and two general — and fined the company $360,874, according to the news release. The most serious are the willful violations, according L&I, and were issued for “not having cave-in protection, having no competent person trained on trench safety on site, and having no written safety program tailored to the project.”
Investigators also found RES System 3 regularly disregarded internal safety policies and procedures, promoted “a work policy designed to circumvent the requirements of the code,” and provided inadequate direction to workers doing “inherently dangerous work.”
The serious violations were for inadequate training, improper ladder extension, and not having a means of getting out of the trench, and the general violations were related to improper ladder use and setup.
General contractor RES America was cited for two willful violations, two serious violations, and two general violations and has been fined $184,800. Many of its violations seem to be related to the same issues for which RES System 3 was cited.
GEMS was fined $4,200 for exposing two employees “to hazards when they entered the unprotected trench.”
The companies have 15 business days from when they receive a citation to appeal.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 at 2:06 PM.
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