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Spokane-area contractors fined by state regulators

This photo was taken on July 9 showing V’s Concrete workers on the first day of the inspection when the first stop-work order was put in place. (Courtesy of Washington Department of Labor and Industries)
By Thomas Clouse tomc@spokesman.com(509) 459-5495
This photo was taken on July 9 showing V’s Concrete workers on the first day of the inspection when the first stop-work order was put in place. (Courtesy of Washington Department of Labor and Industries)

Two Spokane-area contractors face several thousand dollars in fines after Washington Department of Labor and Industries investigators determined that they put workers’ lives at risk during a recent home build.

State regulators fined Better Builders of Spokane LLC, located at 12121 W. Garfield Road and V’s Concrete LLC, located at 11900 W. Orchard Heights Road in Cheney, after crews continued to work despite stop-work orders were issued relating to hazards from a dirt wall that did not have adequate cave-in protection, according to a news release.

Spokane County building officials alerted L&I inspectors after several V’s Concrete employees were seen in July working next to a 22-foot-high dirt wall without proper cave-in protection, according to a news release.

Both Spokane County and L&I officials ordered a stop-work order at the site.

“The stop work orders by the county and L&I remain in place today to prevent these two companies from putting workers’ lives at risk any further,” Craig Blackwood, assistant director for L&I’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health, said in the release.

However, Better Builders refused to post the stop-work order, so the state inspector posted it himself, according to the release.

Contractors then removed that order. When L&I employees reposted the order, it was taken down again.

Less than two weeks after the first inspection, V’s Concrete workers were photographed working between 10-foot-tall concrete forms and a dirt wall in violation of the stop-work order, according to the news release.

As a result, L&I fined Better Builders $121,840 for four violations, including not having an adequate engineer’s design for excavations over 20 feet. They were also fined for failing to protect subcontractors from hazards and violating the stop-work order.

The state also fined V’s Concrete $183,040 for seven violations, including for allowing workers to walk or crawl along the top of 10-foot concrete foundation forms without fall protection and for exposing workers to unguarded steel rebar.

V’s Concrete was also fined for violating the stop-work order, according to the release.

Efforts to reach officials from Better Builders and V’s Concrete were not immediately successful on Friday.

The state officials noted that both companies have filed an appeal on their findings and fines.