OLYMPIA — A Port Angeles company has been assessed $51,800 in fines by the state Department of Labor and Industries for violations related to the job-site death of a logger, Jeremy Paapke, off Coyle Road in Quilcene.
Brian Borde Contracting Inc. of Port Angeles has until April 6 to appeal the three violations that occurred at the Coyle Road site in Jefferson County where Paapke, a Port Angeles resident, was working the day he died, Sept. 25, agency spokeswoman Elaine Fischer said Friday.
It’s at least one of the largest series of fines issued overall in the logging industry this year, Fischer said.
The workplace situations that led to the violations no longer exist, according to the agency’s March 5 Citation and Notice of Assessment.
Borde did not return calls requesting comment Friday and Saturday.
Port Angeles lawyer Carl Gay, who is listed as Borde’s agent on Borde’s business registration with the state, said he hasn’t discussed the matter with his client.
Paapke, a 23-year-old Port Angeles resident, was struck in the head by a falling tree on a sloped hillside shortly after noon.
Co-workers carried him up the hill, where he was administered CPR by emergency personnel from the Quilcene and Port Ludlow fire departments and East Jefferson Fire-Rescue.
He was pronounced dead at the scene.
The company was assessed the maximum of $28,000 for one willful violation, $22,000 for a second willful violation and $1,800 for a serious violation.
The $28,000 fine was the largest fine a company of Borde Contracting’s size — 25 employees or fewer — can receive for a willful violation, Fischer said.
In an email, she said a willful violation is issued “when L&I has evidence of plain indifference, a substitution of judgement or an intentional disregard to a hazard or rule.”
“It means the employer knew or should have known what the regulations were,” she said in an interview.
“One of the things that set this apart is that this is the maximum fine of any employer of this size.”
The agency’s report on the investigation is confidential under state law, Fischer said.
Below are the violations ranked by fines, as described in the Citation and Notice of Inspection:
■ $28,000 fine: No audible warning was given when workers were falling trees and the company did not ensure they were clear of falling trees.
Paapke was bucking, or cutting to length, a felled tree when he was struck by another falling tree.
■ $22,000 fine: The company did not ensure undercuts were made in trees while workers were in the area in which the tree could fall.
■ $1,800 fine: The company did not have a formal, written safety program.
“Following a safety program guide when cutting timber can help employees recognize and reduce the hazards,” according to the citation.
Citations must be posted at or near where the violations occurred, where employees can easily read it, or where employees normally receive posted information.
It must remain until the violations have been corrected or three working days, whichever is longer.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at pgottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
