Oregon's workplace-safety regulator has cleared the Wal-Mart retail chain of serious wrongdoing in the death of a sales associate who fell from a ladder at the company's Coos Bay store.

This morning, Kevin Weeks, a spokesman for the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division, said the agency cited Wal-Mart with one "other than serious violation" in connection to the Dec. 3 incident, in which Gary Richey, a 67-year-old North Bend resident, fell more than 3 feet from a ladder and struck his head on the floor. Richey was airlifted to a Portland hospital but died later that day.

OR-OSHA fined the retailer $500 for not reporting the accident within eight hours. The company did not file its report until three days later, the agency reported in a press release. The state finished a 36-day probe of Richey's death on Jan. 11.

An "other than serious" infraction is the lightest of the safety agency's three grades of punishment for violating Oregon's Safe Employment Act. "Serious" violations resulting in the likelihood of injury or death can result in a fine from $300 to $5,000, while repeat violations are punishable by fines in the $7,000 to $70,000 range.

The state gave Wal-Mart until Feb. 11 to appeal the fine. Either the local store's management or executives at the Bentonville, Ark., company headquarters can contest the penalty, according to Weeks.

OR-OSHA has not yet received a letter of appeal, he said.

- Howard Yune, Staff Writer