Construction company fined in connection with Beverly bridge death

A Bellingham construction company could be fined nearly $284,000 for not ensuring safeguards were in place to keep workers from falling off the Beverly Railroad Bridge spanning the Columbia River in Beverly, according to a release Thursday from the Washington State Department of Labor & Industries.

Thirty-nine-year-old Gabriel Zelaya, of Toppenish, apparently died from falling about 60 feet from the bridge deck in August while laying concrete curing blankets as part of a bridge restoration project.

Boss Construction Inc. was cited with two egregious serious willful violations for not ensuring workers were using fall protection, the release stated. L&I also cited Boss Construction for not having a rescue boat immediately available and not having ring buoys with ropes or life vests, required for workers not using fall protection while working over water.

State inspectors determined many of the workers did not use fall protection on the day of the death and on multiple other days, the release stated.

“Managers and a foreman were working side-by-side with workers — none of them wearing fall protection,” said Craig Blackwood, L&I’s assistant director for the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, in the release. “That tells us the employer knowingly allowed employees to work on the bridge without using the required safety equipment.”

Multiple employee interviews allegedly corroborated the lack of fall protection during the project and spoke to a lack of safety enforcement leading up to the fatal fall.

Additionally, L&I inspectors said they observed a catenary line — a horizontal line anchored at each end workers can attach to for safety — installed on only one side of the bridge deck. The line spanned approximately 2,600 feet, but did not span the entire 3,052 feet of the bridge, they reported. That left about 200 feet on each end on one side of the bridge without a line for workers to attach to as they walked on the bridge. The other side of the bridge allegedly had no catenary line and was completely unguarded for the full span. Guardrails were removed several months prior to the incident, leaving an unguarded surface.

Boss Construction has until Feb. 8 to appeal the citation and fines. Any money received would go to the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund, helping injured workers and families of those who have died on the job.

The work on the bridge was under contract with the Washington State Parks and Recreation Commission. In a separate incident, WSPRC was also fined for having an employee on the bridge without fall protection, the release stated.