A trucking company is facing nearly half a million dollars in fines for safety violations that led to the death of a truck driver last summer. 

The 56-year-old father of 12, Viktor Voloshin, died after being instructed to climb inside a tanker trailer to clean out fertilizer residue at Two River Terminal in Pasco, Washington on June 7th 2024. Fumes from the fertilizer caused Voloshin to pass out, and he later died inside of the tanker trailer. 

Initial reports stated that Voloshin had accidentally fallen into the trailer, but investigation and surveillance video revealed that he intentionally climbed into the tanker after being instructed by the company to do so. Voloshin’s family has since filed a lawsuit against Two Rivers. The suit calls for unspecified damages for the family’s financial and emotional loss, as well as reforms in workplace and safety practices. 

Since the incident, Two Rivers has been fined $394,200 for the safety violations that led to Voloshin’s death. The company has a previous “track record” of safety violations, including a similar incident in 2023 involving a worker opening the door to a railcar with toxic fumes inside, causing him to pass out and fall. The company was fined nearly $500,000 for the violations leading up to that accident, reported KIRO 7.

At the time of Voloshin’s death, Two Rivers was appealing two safety citations from 2022 and 2023 for a total of $672,320. A worker was crushed to death at the same facility in 2012, and three other workers have been hospitalized since 2010. Over the past three years, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industry has cited the company for 96 serious and 43 general safety violations. They are currently appealing the citations related to Voloshin’s death.

“This incident is heartbreaking and frustrating,” said Craig Blackwood, assistant director for Washington State Department of Labor and Industry Division of Occupational Safety and Health. “Mr. Voloshin’s death was completely preventable. Two Rivers Terminal continues to ignore the safety rules despite being fined over and over again. We hope this significant fine will motivate them to do the right thing to protect their workers.”

Voloshin had been working for Two Rivers Terminals in Pasco for 11 years as a truck driver. Fines paid by the company for citations feed into the workers’ compensation supplemental pension fund.