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.
