A Minnesota contractor faces proposed penalties of more than $1.8 million for repeated trench violations, four in the past four years, according to the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The $1,862,284 in proposed fines for International Falls-based Wagner Construction Inc. appears to be the largest OSHA penalty amount issued to a company in at least two years for a trenching violation. The fines follow a settlement agreement between Wagner and OSHA in 2021 for similar violations. It’s the fourth time in four years that the company has been cited for these violations, OSHA says.
In the 2021 deal, Wagner paid a reduced fine of $380,000, down from the original $583,334. The company also agreed to other requirements, including training its employees on trench safety and developing a detailed safety plan. The company hired a full-time safety manager and agreed to buy new trench safety equipment, OSHA said at the time.
In the recent set of violations, OSHA cited Wagner in individual cases, rather than grouping the violations together as is often the case. This resulted in 16 repeat offenses and one serious offence.
The recent violations, posted Nov. 29, stem from a June 1-7 project in Minot, North Dakota, where workers were replacing a residential water main and 20 separate shutoff valves, according to OSHA.
The agency said it received a complaint that workers were in trenches without proper protection. This follows 13 violations cited between 2019 and 2020 at projects in Bismarck, North Dakota, that led to the previous settlement. OSHA says Wagner’s adherence to this agreement is being further investigated.
“Wagner Construction failed to keep its promises to the US government and its employees by ignoring one of the construction industry’s deadliest hazards,” OSHA Regional Administrator Jennifer Rous said in Denver. “In 2022, 39 people died while doing excavation and trenching work, the highest number in nearly 20 years, making this company’s unwillingness to protect its employees truly disturbing. With the substantial increase in the number of construction projects in North Dakota and across the country, employers like Wagner Construction must take every step necessary to ensure employees are safe on the job site.”
A Dec. 11 attempt to reach company president Kalan Wagner for comment was unsuccessful.
16 Repetition of infringements
According to OSHA citations, Wagner employees were found in the trenches at various project sites between June 1 and June 7 in Minot.
The citations are as follows:
- Six repetitions for inadequate protection per cave, totaling $928,128.
- Five repeats with no safe way out of the trench, totaling $773,440.
- Two repetitions for bot piles within 2 feet of ditch edge, totaling $61,876.
- Three repetitions for trench workers not wearing helmets, totaling $92,814.
- A serious citation for workers who use a folded A-frame ladder to exit the trench, which is not the ladder’s intended use. This citation totals $6,026.
All violations were labeled “serious,” which OSHA defines as existing “when the occupational hazard could cause an accident or illness likely to result in death or serious physical injury, unless the employer did not know or I couldn’t know.” the violation”.
Previous offenses
OSHA issued 13 trench violations against Wagner for incidents between 2019 and 2020.
The jobs were as follows:
- On August 27-29, 2019, Wagner crews were in several trenches between 9 and 13 feet deep installing water lines and a fire hydrant in Bismarck, North Dakota , near an intersection of highways and streets.
- On October 7-9, 2019, Wagner crews installed water lines at another intersection in Bismarck in trenches 9.5, 10, and 11 feet deep, respectively, and with walls nearly vertical
- On February 21, 2020, workers were in the trenches on three separate utility repairs in Bismarck and Lincoln. The three trenches were about 9, 10, and 13 feet, respectively.
Violations included stacking bags too close to the edge of the trenches; Inadequate incline and benches; improper use of trench boxes; there are no stairs in the trenches for workers to escape; workers not wearing helmets; the competent person who does not remove the workers from these dangers; and water at the bottom of a ditch.
In another incident, on August 8, 2020, a Wagner worker was crushed by an excavator’s counterweight while attempting to attach a choke cable around a 37-inch-diameter steel-reinforced concrete pipe, according to OSHA. The pipe was to be lowered into a storm drain excavation on a residential street in Minot. The worker was hospitalized for his injuries. Wagner was fined and paid $9,446, according to OSHA records.
A rare pity
OSHA trench penalties are typically in the tens of thousands, with the most serious cases reaching six-figure fines. Penalties exceeding $1 million are rare.
Wagner’s $1.8 million penalty marks the largest amount yet in 2023 and 2022.
The last OSHA trench violation to reach the $1 million mark came on August 18, 2021, when Atlantic Coast Utilities LLC/Advanced Utilities Inc., its predecessor company Shannon Construction Corp., its owner Laurence Moloney and the successor company, Sterling Excavation LLC, faced penalties of $1,350,884 in August 2021. It followed the deaths of two workers after a dump truck hit them and pushed them into a ditch 9 feet deep on a Boston sewer repair job.
Wagner has the right to challenge the penalties he faces for the June violations.
The company website lists Wagner as a family construction company formed in 1951. Kalan Wagner is the third generation owner of the company. The company’s projects include underground utilities, site development, forestry, street cleaning, commercial and industrial buildings, heavy civil and transportation. It also owns aggregate and rock quarries, demolition dumps and ready-mix locations throughout Minnesota.
Along with its headquarters in International Falls, the company has locations in Minot and Castle Rock, Colorado.
