Worker fatality leads to largest safety fine in Minnesota for Rosemount trucking firm

Trucking firm Wayne Transports has been hit with a $621,000 fine — the largest ever safety fine recorded in the state — in connection with an employee’s death in Virginia, Minn.

Justin Erickson, 39, of Iron, Minn., was found dead in the tank of a tanker truck in March at Wayne’s Virginia terminal. He died of probable asphyxia and chemical exposure, according to a coroner’s report.

Minnesota’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently cited the Rosemount-based company for 12 serious safety violations, most of them resulting in fines of $67,200 each.

The $621,000 in total fines to Wayne is the largest penalty in Minnesota OSHA’s computer database, which goes back to 1994. It’s also almost $250,000 higher than the next largest fine, which also involved a worker fatality.

Wayne, a major Midwest tanker truck operator, is contesting the OSHA citations. Employers typically contest significant citations and often end up settling for lower penalties than originally assessed by OSHA.

“Minnesota OSHA issued duplicative citations and we look forward to making good efforts to resolve the citations while never forgetting someone has lost their life,” said Aaron Dean, an attorney representing the company. “Wayne Transports is terribly sorry about the accident that occurred.”

Wayne specializes in carrying bulk cargoes, from petroleum products and chemicals to agricultural products and other dry goods. The 74-year-old, family-owned company has 12 terminals throughout the Midwest that dispatch around 700 truck drivers, according to its website.

On the afternoon of March 7, Erickson was nowhere to be seen around quitting time, according to a Virginia police report. So, a co-worker went to check on him and found him laying in a tanker trailer. The police report indicated that Erickson was cleaning the tank.

One officer noted that while standing near the tanker’s opening, “it smelled like gasoline.”

The citations levied on Wayne Transport are centered on rules regulating work in confined spaces such as tanks, silos and storage bins. They include safety violations involving worker training, testing of confined spaces prior to employee entry and stationing co-workers nearby when work is done in a confined space.

“Before work is performed in a confined space, employers must evaluate the elements of that space and ensure they have a comprehensive plan to protect their employees from potential hazards,” Nicole Blissenbach, Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry commissioner, said in a press statement Thursday.

Under state law, Minnesota OSHA can assess a minimum $25,000 fine for each “serious” safety violation that caused or contributed to the death of the employee. However, Dean challenged OSHA’s contention, saying state law allows for a maximum fine of $25,000.

Often, worker fatalities draw OSHA’s most severe citation — a “willful” violation of safety laws — though the accident at Wayne Transports did not. The minimum fine for a willful citation connected to a worker’s death is $50,000 and the maximum fine is $156,259.

The second- and third-largest cumulative fines ever levied by Minnesota OSHA involved willful citations.

Minnesota OSHA tagged Meadowlands Farmers Coop in Lamberton with six willful violations for a total of $375,000 in 2018 after a worker died from suffocation in a grain silo. Meadowlands contested the case and settled for $232,000 in fines.

Gateway Building Systems, a construction company, was tagged with six willful citations for $323,000 in 2017 after a worker fell from a platform while working at the top of a grain elevator. Gateway also contested and settled for penalties of $143,000.