Sierra Pacific Industries, which runs an Aberdeen lumber mill, has been fined $112,000 for seven safety violations following the death of an employee last spring, according to the state Department of Labor and Industries. Andrew Ward, a 41-year-old Elma man, died in April after falling from an elevated platform to a concrete surface below. Investigators found that a section of yellow guardrail had been removed from the platform, which was more than 17 feet high, and replaced with caution tape to make way for a crane, the department wrote in a release Wednesday. Ward was attempting to communicate with the crane operator below when he fell, the release says. Investigators found the mill was aware that caution tape was not an appropriate substitute for guardrails at high elevations, but regularly allowed it, while also failing to ensure employees were wearing adequate safety equipment.