The Port of Longview, where commissioners recently awarded Rotschy Inc. to build a new rail expansion terminal at the port.
Nick Grier / Contributed
For an hour on Wednesday morning, Port of Longview commissioners addressed safety concerns around Rotschy Inc., a Vancouver-based construction contractor. The company won a $44.6 million contract in early 2025 to expand a rail yard at the port.
But the company has been the subject of at least one high-profile safety accident and a number of safety violations documented by the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries in recent years. The most gruesome and highly publicized injury occurred in June 2023, when a 16-year-old employee from Battle Ground lost both his legs after they were caught in a walk-behind trenching machine.
Port Commissioner Evan Jones said the company’s bid was accepted without realizing there were no safety requirements in the bid criteria, which the port based on boilerplate contract language from the Washington State Department of Transportation.
“Based on criteria that we gave ourselves, they met that criteria,” Jones said.
He voted against awarding the rail corridor expansion project to Rotschy, but said as a public entity, they’re required to take the lowest bid that meets general requirements.
In March, Labor and Industries recommended the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office conduct a criminal investigation into Rotschy for past workplace incidents involving minors. In light of that and increased media coverage of the company’s past safety issues, commissioners are now asking how the company will ensure there will be no accidents as the project continues.
“I want to know what they’re going to do different here,” said Jones, who is also a member of the IBEW Local 48 electrician’s union. “Because we’ve seen what they do everywhere else and we’ve seen — not always, but far more often than is the norm — the results.”
Rotschy was fined nearly $60,000 for a number of “serious” violations in 2023 from Labor and Industries after an employee was found working in a manhole where there could be insufficient oxygen. Records show gas monitors at the job site didn’t work properly. In 2019, the state labor agency issued violations totaling $69,000 when an employee was found working under the load of an excavator and in a trench more than four feet deep without a safe means of getting out.
The Port of Longview’s industrial rail corridor expansion is the port’s “largest financial investment in more than a century.” The $88 million project will be paid for in a mix of federal, state and county funds, as well as revenue from the port. The project includes building a new six-track rail bed to accommodate increased freight shipments to the export terminal.
Of the five total bidders on the port project, Rotschy underbid Battle Ground-based construction company Tapani, Inc. by $1.3 million.
A representative from Rotschy Inc. did not respond to an interview request on Wednesday.
Port officials said that there are a number of industry-standard safeguards in place under the existing contract. During Wednesday’s meeting, staff said there will be a safety inspector on the job site at all times and that everyone on site has “stop work authority” if they have concerns.
In the meantime, work on the rail expansion at the Port of Longview has already started. In a project update, port officials said that Rotschy has moved in job trailers, removed vegetation, and the company is building an access road to haul in material for the project.
Port Commissioner Jeff Wilson stressed the need for extra safety measures, given the recent scrutiny of Rotschy.
“It’s quite a story,” Wilson said. “We’re in a position here where all we want to do is get it done safely. But we’re not off to a very good start.”
