Vancouver company fined $170,000 for violations at jobsite where worker was pinned by equipment

VANCOUVER, Wash. — Vancouver-based construction company Rotschy Inc. has been fined more than $170,000 by the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries stemming from an investigation into a June incident in which a worker suffered life-threatening injuries from a 3,000-pound equipment bucket that fell off an excavator arm above him.

The incident happened on the morning of June 3 at a jobsite in Woodland. The bucket pinned the worker inside a 15-foot-deep trench until crews from Clark-Cowlitz Fire & Rescue and other nearby agencies were able to extract him. Fire officials said the worker suffered significant back, pelvis and femur injuries, and was taken to a hospital by Life Flight.

The accident prompted union workers to stage a protest outside the company's headquarters late