The employer of a man who died in December working on Enbridge's new Line 3 oil pipeline has been cited for a serious safety violation and fined $25,000.
Construction worker Jorge Villafuerte III was killed when he was run over by a large forklift near Hill City on Dec. 18, a few weeks after Enbridge began building the $3 billion-plus pipeline across northern Minnesota.
In May, the Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MnOSHA) cited Eau Claire-based Precision Pipeline, a general contractor on the Line 3 project. Precision, which did not return requests for comment Tuesday, is contesting the citation.
Under Minnesota law, companies with over 50 workers are hit with a minimum fine of $25,000 for a serious safety violation involving a fatality.
MnOSHA contends Precision violated a rule calling for employers to ensure that industrial truck operators are "competent" to run their vehicles — "as demonstrated by the successful completion" of certain training and evaluations, records show.
The day of his death, the 45-year-old Villafuerte was at a construction yard in the predawn hours, checking a list of materials while standing behind a "telehandler," which is an industrial forklift, according to the Aitkin County Sheriff's Office.
As the forklift started backing up, Villafuerte was struck almost immediately by the rear passenger tire. Before the operator stopped the vehicle, "the machine's tire had backed over the full length of his body," the sheriff's report said.
The forklift driver told deputies that Villafuerte, who had been wearing a reflective vest, was in "a blind spot while he was operating the machine and that he never saw him."
