Phillip Numrich, the owner of Alki Construction, was sentenced to jail for manslaughter. The West Seattle construction company owner was sentenced for an incident that happened in 2016. One of his workers died when a trench collapsed at a job site.
Mr. Numrich was sentenced to 45 days in jail in what the Washington Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) calls a historic case to hold an employer criminally responsible for a workers’ death.
In 2019, 5,333 workers died on the job. That is 3.5 per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. Which mean on average, more than 100 a week or about 15 deaths every day. About 20% (1,061) of worker fatalities in private industry in calendar year 2019 were in construction – accounting for one in five worker deaths for the year.
An L&I investigation found Numrich and his company “knowingly ignored basic, common-sense safety rules”. The agency said that Numrich allowed work to go on in an eight to ten-foot deep trench, even though he had only brought enough safety equipment to protect two of the four sides of the trench from a cave-in.
In 2016 a trench at a worksite caved in. Employee, Harold Felton, was buried alive under more than six thousand pounds of dirt. Investigators we’re told that the company knew workers were digging in rain-soaked and unstable soil. according to L&I.
The company was fined as well as criminally charged. L&I cited and fined the company for multiple workplace safety violations. In a 2021 decision to this case, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled that an employer can be charged with a felony in connection with a workplace fatality. Prosecutors charged the owner with a felony charge of second-degree manslaughter.
Numrich will serve 18-months on probation. The terms includes limited contacts with the Felton family and some types of work that the company is banned from performing. Alki Construction will pay a $25,000 fine for violating the Washington Industrial Safety & Health Act.
