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Mankato, Minn. (AP)

MnDOT pays $30,000 penalty in worker's death

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Searching for backhoe operator
Rescue workers in an inflatable raft probe around the MnDOT backhoe that fell into swollen Seven Mile Creek along Highway 169 between Mankato and St. Peter, Minn. on Tuesday, March 22, 2011. Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Struck, of Cleveland, Minn., died when he was swept away by the creek.
AP Photo/The Mankato Free Press, John Cross

The Minnesota Department of Transportation has paid a $30,000 penalty for serious safety violations in the death of a worker clearing floodwaters last spring.

Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Struck, of Cleveland, Minn., died March 22 when he was swept away as he used a backhoe to clear debris from culverts along Highway 169 near St. Peter. The tractor slid into a creek and the current pulled him through a culvert. His body was found the next day.

The Free Press of Mankato reported Friday that the state's Occupational Safety and Health Division determined that MnDOT failed to ensure the backhoe was safely positioned and failed to ensure Struck was wearing a life jacket while working next to floodwaters.

MnDOT says it has changed its practices to ensure it doesn't happen again.

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Information from: The Free Press

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Searching for backhoe operator
Rescue workers in an inflatable raft probe around the MnDOT backhoe that fell into swollen Seven Mile Creek along Highway 169 between Mankato and St. Peter, Minn. on Tuesday, March 22, 2011. Thirty-nine-year-old Michael Struck, of Cleveland, Minn., died when he was swept away by the creek.
AP Photo/The Mankato Free Press, John Cross