. “This shows blatant disregard for worker safety. We will do everything in our power to protect workers from serious injury or death when an employer won’t.”
According to L&I’s statement, the company owner, Jay Schlau, told inspectors they would install the trench box and slope back any dirt above the height of the box away from the edge of the trench. However, L&I stopped all work at the site after finding the site was operating without the requested protections the very next day.
“Our compliance safety and health officers are initiating inspections when they see an open trench four feet deep or more, so we check the trenches we come across for safety,” Blackwood continued. “We hope this increased scrutiny will save lives.” Fines paid from citations go into the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping workers and families of those who have died on the job.AG Ferguson files lawsuit against charity, misusing $1.2M for BIPOC communities