A fatal crash at a construction site along the Chief Joseph Highway last year stemmed from drug use and could have been prevented, a pair of state investigations found.

The deadly October 2018 wreck was caused by impaired driving, the Wyoming Highway Patrol concluded, as the driver of the haul truck had used methamphetamine before crashing down a steep cliff. Meanwhile, the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) learned that the driver’s co-workers suspected he was using drugs — and witnessed a pair of close calls before the fatal crash — but didn’t speak up.

OSHA also penalized the contractor on the construction project nearly $7,500 for inadequately training its employees on recognizing and immediately reporting unsafe conditions.

On the night of Oct. 12, 2018, crews from Oftedal Construction had been working to stabilize a section of Wyo. Highway 296 as part of a $5.5 million contract with the Wyoming Department of Transportation. Oftedal employee Ronald “Ronny” Frankenberry II was driving a haul truck when he clipped another truck, went off the haul road, through multiple trees and down a 250-foot high cliff. The 26-year-old Cody resident died at the scene.

The highway patrol concluded that the crash was caused by “operator impairment,” saying in an October news release that Frankenberry “was highly impaired at the time of the rock truck crash.”

A toxicology screen found 558 nanograms of methamphetamine per milliliter of blood in Frankenberry’s system. Although Wyoming does not have a set standard, other states consider a driver to be impaired when there’s 100 or more nanograms of meth per milliliter in their system.

“At that level, Mr. Frankenberry was most likely using meth the day of the crash and throughout the day,” Patrol Lt. Lee Pence wrote in a report. The screen also showed 112 nanograms per milliliter of amphetamine, which may have come from a prescribed medication.

Other Oftedal Construction workers later told investigators with the Wyoming Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that they had suspected Frankenberry was using drugs that night; prior to the fatal crash, Frankenberry had hit another truck two other times, according to what OSHA was told.

“The incident which occurred … could have potentially been prevented had the employees reported the suspected drug use and Mr. Frankenberry sideswiping another truck with the off-road haul truck he was operating,” OSHA wrote in one report. “Had the employer had this knowledge, Mr. Frankenberry would have potentially been immediately drug tested and removed from the location.”

Under Oftedal’s policies, employees were required to immediately notify their supervisor of any safety-related problems that they couldn’t correct themselves — and each employee had the authority and obligation to stop work over safety concerns.

However, while Wyoming OSHA found that Oftedal’s safety policies were “fairly comprehensive,” the agency found that the company had failed to complete task training at the site. It issued a citation for a “serious” violation of federal safety regulations.

“The employer failed to provide adequate training to their employees in the recognition and avoidance of unsafe conditions regarding proper operation of equipment and/or immediate reporting of unsafe conditions/incidents,” the February 2019 citation read.

Following an informal settlement conference, Oftedal agreed to pay the proposed $7,484 penalty in April — a payment that went into the Park County government’s general fund — while OSHA agreed to lower the violation’s severity to “other than serious.”

Wendy Bruntmyer of Wyoming OSHA also wrote in a February report that Oftedal officials were “going to work harder towards a culture that ensures employees are comfortable and feel secure in using their stop work authority.” The company held a training session on the subject in March with all of its employees. Oftedal President Jeff McDonald of Casper said Friday that his firm is taking steps to improve its record-keeping on task training and conducting more training during the busier summer months instead of focusing on the offseason.

“We’re always trying to continually improve all aspects of our company and especially in safety,” McDonald said.

When putting together a summer crew in 2018, “somehow the message maybe didn’t get through correctly that it is in our policy — and has been for many years — that anybody has the authority to stop work and everyone has the responsibility to report a problem to their supervisors,” McDonald said. “And apparently this did not work as well as it should have, because none of our supervisors were aware that there was a problem.”

McDonald told OSHA investigators, and repeated last week, that he doesn’t understand why the employees didn’t voice their concerns about Frankenberry being impaired. He noted that Oftedal does a lot of drug testing, including whenever reasonable suspicions are raised; a positive test will result in the worker being removed from their job site.

Frankenberry was among the workers hired by Oftedal in the summer of 2018 to help build a berm along the Chief Joseph Highway, to stop a section above Dead Indian Campground from sliding. At the time, Frankenberry was serving probation for offenses that included a years-old felony and a months-old misdemeanor offense of using a controlled substance; he had also been convicted in 2017 for crashing a different employer’s work truck in Powell while under the influence of amphetamine, according to police and court records.

McDonald said it’s not unusual for Oftedal to hire workers who have had problems in their past.

“We believe in giving people a second chance,” he said, adding that “when we take these people, we understand that if they’re on parole or probation, that they’re constantly getting interviewed by the people the authorities that they’re dealing with and they’re being drug tested more frequently.”

The day before the crash, Frankenberry missed work and tested positive for methamphetamine during a check at the probation and parole office in Cody, state records say. Frankenberry ultimately fled the probation office, leading his supervising agent to obtain a warrant for his arrest. Authorities nearly caught and arrested him on Oct. 12, 2018, but he eluded them and drove to work at the Chief Joseph site.

Frankenberry’s supervisor, Mike Schriner, told the Wyoming Highway Patrol that he’d heard rumblings of Frankenberry being sought by law enforcement, but said he only learned of the employees’ suspicions about drug use after the fact.

“We do a hell of a lot of drug testing, but obviously, you’re not doing it everyday,” McDonald said, adding that, “we certainly do rely on the expertise of these other agencies” when someone is under court-ordered supervision.

It was the third death in the 55-year history of Oftedal Construction — a period involving “millions and millions of man-hours,” McDonald has said — and a WYDOT spokesman praised the company’s safety record in the wake of the October 2018 crash.

OSHA closed its case in May, and provided the Tribune with a redacted version of its case file in August. However, the agency didn’t provide its final report to the Wyoming Highway Patrol until October, leaving the patrol’s investigation open until then. The patrol provided its report to the Tribune in November. McDonald had reserved comment until receiving the state agencies’ reports.

In reading through the documents, “My heart just goes out to the family,” McDonald said, adding, “It’s heartbreaking for a family to go through that and it’s very sad.”

Text messages and other materials collected by the highway patrol in its investigation indicated that Frankenberry was actively fighting against his addiction. In the cab of the wrecked haul truck, authorities found a book that contained messages of support for Frankenberry, encouraging him to stay sober.

Frankenberry had married only four months before the crash, being survived by his wife, three stepsons and many other family members. An obituary for Frankenberry described him as someone who loved the outdoors and deeply loved his family and friends.

“Everyone Ronny met was his friend,” the obituary said.

Report: Wyoming workplace deaths spiked in 2018

New data shows state had worst workplace death rate

Newly released statistics suggest that Wyoming was perhaps the deadliest state for workers in 2018.

Earlier this month, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics updated the Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, which covers all workplace fatalities across the country.

With 31 occupational fatalities in Wyoming in 2018, the state had the highest occupational fatality rate in the country, according to a news release from the Wyoming Department of Workforce Services.

Among the fatalities was an October 2018 crash at a construction site along the Chief Joseph Highway, which claimed the life of a 26-year-old haul truck driver from Cody (see related story above).

The workplace deaths recorded in Wyoming in 2018 broke down to an average of 11.5 fatalities per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers — well above the national average of 3.5 fatalities.

The 31 deaths were slightly below the state’s recent average of 33 occupational fatalities per year, but represented a substantial leap from the 20 occupational fatalities recorded in 2017.

In a news release issued last week, State Occupational Epidemiologist Meredith Towle called the increase “concerning.”

“Certainly we understand that more workers on the job increases the risk as we saw over this time period, however, one worker death is one too many,” Towle said. “This renews the sense of urgency we have as a state agency to work with employers and industry groups to better understand the causes and trends of these deaths, and to identify and promote opportunities for prevention.”

In early 2020, the state occupational epidemiologist will release a fatality report that will outline opportunities for reducing Wyoming’s workplace deaths.