A contractor with offices in Pasco has been fined by the state Department of Labor & Industries after a 3,000-pound piece of equipment fell and crushed a worker at a southwest Washington jobsite. 

Rotschy Inc., which has a Pasco office at 2145 N. Commercial Ave., faces safety violation fines of more than $180,000. The Vancouver, Washington-based contractor also owns property in Franklin County. In 2022, it bought more than 30 acres of undeveloped and ag land for $1.9 million. 

Rotschy is appealing the citations and fines. 

The injured employee at the Woodland jobsite was working in a trench box and giving hand signals to the excavator operator when the bucket fell off the excavator arm, crushing the lower half of the worker’s body, according to L&I. 

The operator attempted to lift the bucket off the worker using the hydraulic arm of the excavator when the bucket slipped, crushing the worker a second time. 

Firefighters eventually rescued the worker who was hospitalized for more than a month with severe injuries, according to L&I. 

The state’s investigation determined that two excavators at the jobsite were missing a safety latch designed to prevent the bucket from falling off in case of operator error or equipment failure. 

State investigators also found other safety violations at the Woodland excavation site. There wasn’t a walkway for workers to safely cross over the 10-foot-deep trench and workers were jumping across it. Investigators also said there was no cave-in protection around an upright manhole inside the trench.  

L&I cited Rotschy for six “serious” violations and as a result the contractor will be added to its severe violators list and be subject to increased scrutiny. 

Additionally, L&I opened a second inspection concurrent to the excavator incident after an investigator responding to the initial call reported concerns about possible confined space violations. In that case, L&I fined Rotschy $13,770 on Nov. 10 for five serious confined space violations relating to the upright sewer manhole.  

L&I classifies a violation as serious when it could lead directly to the serious injury or death of a worker, and as willful when the employer knew or should have known the rules but did not follow them – two of Rotschy’s violations fell into this category.  

Money collected from fines goes into the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping workers and families of those who have died on the job.