Washington Department of Natural Resources Crew Supervisor Nick Jeffries, right, teaches basic firefighting to inmates at Airway Heights Corrections Center. Young Kwak photo
prisons
A Deadly Lesson
The death of an inmate work-crew member last October has resulted in new statewide safety protocols and a $25,100 fine BY JACOB JONES
W
hen 22-year-old Danny Bergeson set out into the woods of Stevens County on an inmate tree-trimming crew last fall, reports say he had been cautioned against the dangers of passing traffic, potential hunters and other nearby hazards. But when a tree he was cutting down fell into overhead power lines on Oct. 15, Bergeson suffered a fatal shock, becoming the first Washington state inmate killed on a prison work crew. Workplace safety investigators now say Bergeson was not properly supervised, trained or warned about
the high-voltage power lines. His death has resulted in a recently issued $25,100 citation for multiple safety violations and a statewide re-evaluation of how inmate crews take on dangerous jobs. Considered a helpful and minimal-risk inmate at the Airway Heights Corrections Center, Bergeson joined a Department of Natural Resources work crew in August of last year to stay busy and earn some extra money. The department manages about 30 inmate crews across the state for forest maintenance and wildfire fighting work, providing a DNR crew leader to oversee each team.
Elaine Fischer, a spokeswoman with the state Department of Labor & Industries, says investigators recently cited DNR for five separate safety violations leading up to Bergeson’s death. L&I investigators found incomplete training on chainsaws, improper advisories on safety hazards and insufficient supervision. “[The DNR crew leader] did not identify hazards … where employees were assigned to fall trees near electrical hazards,” the newly released citation states. “This exposed the employees to potential electrocution from trees hitting or becoming entangled into 115 [kilovolt] power lines that were within falling distance of the trees being felled.”
L
oren Torgerson, the DNR’s Northeast Regional Manager, says the department’s inmate work program was temporarily suspended statewide last fall while officials reviewed all safety protocols for potentially dangerous jobs. “What we did was a stand-down of the program,” he says. The department evaluated each specific job that ...continued on next page
MAY 9, 2013 INLANDER 13