A 16-year-old boy had to have both of his legs amputated following an incident involving a walk-behind trencher he was using to dig a channel for fence posts.
The boy was working for a construction company at a Washington worksite during the summer of 2023 when he was dragged underneath the trencher’s blade, causing injuries so severe that both of his legs had to be amputated.
The Washington State Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) cited Rotschy LLC and fined the company more than $150,000 for safety violations related to the incident.
L&I said that Rotschy sent the boy “to operate the machine without supervision or adequate safety measures.”
‘This young man’s life will never be the same’
The teen worker was participating in a work-based learning program that allowed students to get credits and experience by working outside the classroom. Rotschy had an exemption that allowed student workers to perform some tasks that are usually prohibited for minors, but use of the trencher wasn’t part of that exemption.
L&I has since issued a stop-work order for Rotschy and suspended the company’s student learner exemption. The state agency fined the company $156,259 for a willful violation. The violation was for “allowing employees to operate equipment without appropriate training or experience.”
“This tragedy should never have happened, and this young man’s life will never be the same,” said Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “Employers with young workers should look after our children as they would their own. When they fail to keep a young worker safe, it’s a violation of the community’s trust.”
An investigation by L&I’s Youth Employment Safety Unit is conducting a separate investigation that could lead to additional fines and restrictions for the company.
