Fine Reduced in Deadly Construction Site Mishap

MASON CITY, IA--We're following up on the actual penalty and corrective action ordered by labor regulators following a deadly North Iowa construction site accident last fall.

On October 9, 2008, crane operator Dickie Hamilton, 46, was hit by an all terrain fork lift at a windmill project North of Mason City, near the town of Grafton in Worth County.

Hamilton was walking on the work site at the time and he died from injuries received in the mishap.

The Iowa Division of Labor found 3 violations and issued citations against Wanzek Construction, which lists addresses in Kensett, Iowa and Fargo, North Dakota.

Iowa Occupational Safety and Health proposed a total of $12,000 in fines for the 3 citations.

Documents obtained under Iowa's Open Records Act reveal IOSHA eventually dismissed 2 of the citations.

They upheld one of them which faulted Wanzek: "The employer did not ensure the all terrain fork truck operator was competent and capable of identifying the hazards of working on wet surface conditions.  This condition existed on or around October 9, 2008."

Wanzek agreed to correct the safety violation and pay a $1,000 fine to IOSHA, which it did on January 23, of 2009.