State fines 2 Spokane construction companies for exposing workers to dangerous wall of dirt

SPOKANE, Wash — The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) has fined two Spokane construction companies for exposing a crew of concrete workers to a dangerous wall of dirt during a recent home build in Spokane. 

L&I says the two companies are now facing a combined $300,000 in fines. Better Builders of Spokane LLC, and its subcontractor, VS Concrete LLC, were fined on Dec. 3 for numerous willful and serious cave-in-related hazards. 

L&I says it was contacted by a local building department after multiple VS Concrete employees were seen working next to an approximately 22-foot-high, nearly vertical dirt wall without adequate cave-in protection. The workers were working in a gap between the dirt wall and the concrete foundation, with no way to escape if the dirt had collapsed.

Both the county and L&I ordered work to stop at the site until the hazards were eliminated, but L&I says the contractor refused to post a stop-work order and removed it after it was posted by the inspector.

“The photos tell the story of just how dangerous this worksite was,” said Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “The stop work orders by the county and L&I remain in place today to prevent these two companies from putting workers’ lives at risk any further.”

L&I says Better Builders refused to post the work-stop order, so the inspector posted it himself. Better Builders removed that order, and when L&I reposted it, the property owner took it down again. 

Less than two weeks after the initial inspection, VS Concrete workers were photographed working between 10-foot-high concrete forms and the massive dirt wall in violation of the state order.

L&I fined Better Builders $121,840 for four willful serious and four serious violations, including not having an adequate engineer’s design for excavations over 20 feet, not ensuring its subcontractor’s workers were protected from hazards and for violating the order of immediate restraint.

VS Concrete was fined $183,040 for seven willful serious and eight serious violations, including workers walking or crawling along the top of ten-foot-high concrete foundation forms without fall protection and for exposing workers to unguarded vertical steel rebar sticking up from concrete footings. The company was also fined for violating the order of immediate restraint.

L&I classifies a violation as serious if it leads or could lead directly to the serious injury or hospitalization of a worker. Violations are willful if the employer knew or should have known the rules but ignored them. 

L&I says both companies have filed an appeal.