Double Amputation Leads to $156,259 Penalty

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries announced that a Vancouver construction company was fined $156,259 after a teenager lost his legs in a trenching accident. The department said a 16-year-old boy was using a walk-behind trencher on a job site in La Center to dig a channel for fence posts last summer when he was dragged underneath the blade. The resulting injuries were so severe that the legs had to be amputated. Rotschy LLC, the construction company, was fined for allowing employees to operate equipment without appropriate training or experience. “The violati...