Fruit grower fined for Othello trench collapse incident

TUMWATER — Wenatchee-based fruit company Stemilt has been fined $353,000 for safety violations that led to a worker being buried and injured in a trench collapse last fall near Othello.

José Antonio Vera Álvarez was on a crew of 10 near Othello that was working to repair an irrigation pipe when a portion of the trench caved in on him, knocked him down and buried him. Vera Álvarez’s coworkers were able to uncover his face relatively quickly, and eventually pull him out of the trench, but he had to go to the hospital with multiple crush injuries to his head, face and body, according to a Department of Labor and Industries press release.

“This could have easily ended in death, all because the employer chose to ignore rules to protect workers,” said Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

The L&I statement indicated that Stemilt had been fined for violations connected with the trench cave-in. Those violations included not having protective systems inside the trench to prevent collapse, no ladder within 25 feet of the workers that they could use to exit the trench, and dirt piles from the trench were not set back at least two feet from the edge of the trench, which can cause trench wall collapse.

The violations are considered willful violations because the employer knew or should have known the safety requirements but chose to ignore them.

Stemilt is appealing the new citation, the L&I statement said. The company was previously cited and fined $17,000 for a Quincy-area trenching safety violation in 2021.

L&I now considers Stemilt a severe violator and its operations are subject to follow-up inspections to determine if the conditions still exist.

The L&I statement indicated that cave-ins during trench work are fairly common. One occurred in February near Sammamish that resulted in a construction worker being seriously injured. Two others occurred in 2022, with one in September killing Surjit Gill after he was buried in a 20-foot-deep trench.

L&I encourages employers and employees to exercise extreme caution when working in trenches.

More information on trench work safety may be found at https://bit.ly/LTRENCHSFTY.

The Columbia Basin Herald has reached out to Stemilt for comment on this situation but did not hear back by press time. Any response provided will be published as it is made available to us.