Line 3 contractor cited for serious safety lapse, fined $25,000 in worker's death

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."

Villafuerte, of Utah, was dead by the time emergency responders arrived. He left behind nine children.

The controversial new pipeline, which Enbridge is building to replace its aging and corroding Line 3, is one of the largest construction projects in Minnesota in recent years. Precision is the general contractor for construction from Clearwater, Minn., to Enbridge's terminal in Superior, Wis.

OSHA cited Precision for two "serious" work-safety violations concerning a 2010 fatal incident in Nevada when a piece of pipe got loose and fell into a trench on top of a worker. OSHA fined the company $28,000, though the case was settled for $14,000.

Precision's largest penalty for a safety violation in recent years stemmed from a 2018 incident in Pennsylvania that left a man hospitalized and his arm broken.

OSHA fined Precision $73,000 for a "repeat" safety violation and another $13,000 for a serious violation. The company eventually settled on $50,000 in fines for two serious violations, erasing the more blemishing "repeat" citation.

Founded in 2004, Precision Pipeline was acquired in 2009 by MasTec, a global construction and engineering company based in Coral Gables, Fla.