Fatal Minnesota work accidents prompt willful safety violations in recent years

Willful violations are the most serious citation given by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Minnesota OSHA has issued them for seven fatal accidents since 2017.

Federal OSHA, which covers Wisconsin, cited 3M for two willful violations connected to a 2023 fatal accident. Minnesota runs its own OSHA program and has issued several willful violations for fatalities in recent years.

Accident date: June 16, 2022.

What happened: An employee trimming trees from the basket of an aerial lift died after hitting a power line with a chainsaw.

Number of willful citations: Two, each for $58,000.

Reason for willful citations: Unqualified employees were not trained in electricity safety work practices. Aerial lift did not maintain a clearance of at least 10 feet from power line.

Status: Case open and contested by employer

Accident date: June 3, 2022.

What happened: One of four employees drowned while scuba diving to remove weeds from Lake Minnetonka.

Number of willful citations: Two, each for $50,000.

Reason: Dive team members didn’t have training and experience or training in using equipment for their job. Employer didn’t develop a safe-practices manual for divers.

Case status: Open and contested by employer.

Accident date: March 10, 2021.

What happened: Employee was struck by a semitrailer truck and killed while walking through a driveway to a parking lot after her shift ended.

Number of willful citations: Three, each for $70,000.

Reason: Employer didn’t ensure that hazardous conditions on walking surface were corrected or repaired. Employees exiting the plant weren’t shielded from hazardous truck loading area. Exit routes not adequately lit.

Status: Open and contested.

Accident date: Aug. 12, 2019.

What happened: Employee working on production line for driveshafts was pulled by her hair into a running machine, suffering fatal injuries.

Number of willful citations: One for $44,100.

Reason: Inadequate machine guards.

Status: Contested and settled with “willful” reclassifed to “serious,” retaining $44,100 fine. Also, two other serious citations for an additional $50,300.

Accident date: July 2, 2019.

What happened: A truck driver loading feed into his trailer stepped off a catwalk onto a small bridge to remove feed spilled on the trailer. He lost his balance and fell to his death.

Number of willful citations: One for each company at $50,000 a piece.

Reason: Inadequate fall protection.

Status: Contested and settled with willful citations for both companies reclassified, each to $25,000 serious violations. Willmar Logistics paid an add $25,000 serious citation for inadequate fall-protection training.

Accident date: May 18, 2018.

What happened: Employee working inside of a silo, shoveling grain into a chute. He slid into the chute and was covered by grain, dying of suffocation.

Number of willful citations: Six for a total of $375,000.

Initial penalty: $375,000

Reason: Employees entered stored grain silo without body harness or lifeline. Employer had not completed a permit for employees entering silo. No observer — equipped to provide assistance — was stationed outside the silo as required.

Status: Contested and settled, with four willful citations remaining. Fine for each was reduced by 29% for a total of $200,000. Two willful violations were reclassified to “serious” with fines totaling $32,000.

Accident date: Oct. 5, 2017.

What happened: An employee of Gateway, a West Fargo, N.D., construction company, was on a platform at the top of a grain elevator in a small western Minnesota town. He fell 125 feet and was killed by impact.

Number of willful citations: Six for a total of $323,000.

Reason: Inadequate decking on work platform.

Status: Contested and settled for two willful citations at $50,000 each; another willful was reclassified to serious with a penalty of $43,000.

Workplace fatality rates have trended downwards for decades as employers have improved safety and the number of manufacturing and mining jobs has declined. But they have risen a bit in recent years.

The U.S. fatal work injury per 100,000 full-time workers fell from 4.2% in 2006 to a low of 3.3% in 2012, before climbing up a bit since then, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. In 2022, the fatality rate crept up to 3.7%, the BLS said in December, the highest in 14 years.

The 5,486 worker deaths in 2022 were the highest in 15 years, with the rising number of workplace homicides accounting for 62% of fatalities.