Les Schwab is about to get some company in the Ernst Building on Hwy. 12 East. The Department of Transportation will soon be moving into the space on the west side of the building formerly occupied by the Salvation Army Thrift Store.

Spokeswoman Brett Mihelish said that by October, 30 employees of the Motor Carrier Services Division will relocate from highway department headquarters across the street.

Among other functions, the division regulates commercial freight in the state, operates the highway weigh stations and processes permits and inspections for trucks.

The division also includes the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program, which regulates the transport of hazardous materials, among other things.

Until a reorganization last October, some of those functions were handled by the Montana Highway Patrol. Mihelish said the new space works not only for its proximity to the main DOT building, but because there's plenty of room for large trucks to park.

Dinner Downtown: Park Plaza Hotel general manager Cheryl McElroy called this week to clear up what she said has become a common misconception since the hotel was taken over by creditors earlier this month. While the popular nightclub is closed (the liquor license remains in the possession of former hotel owner Kevin DeTienne), Bullwhacker's restaurant remains open for meals.

The hotel is still open too, under the management of a Philadelphia company that's running things for the California bank that took over the property earlier this month.

Dangerous Work: Fifty Montanans died while doing their jobs in 2005, according to an annual Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries released this week by the Research and Analysis Bureau of the Department of Labor and Industry.

That was a 28 percent increase over the 39 workplace fatalities reported in 2004, but came in right around the state's 10-year average of 49 on-the-job deaths per year.

Half of the fatalities in 2005 came in jobs in agriculture, forestry and fishing, with seven construction deaths and five and transportation and warehousing. Thirty of the 50 who died on the job last year were self-employed.

How did those 50 people die? Nineteen were in transportation accidents, 14 were as a result of "contact with objects," eight were assaults or violent acts and seven were the result of falls.

Being an older man appears to put you at the most risk. Twenty-three of the deaths were workers 45 and older (with 13 being 65-plus), and 90 percent of the work-related fatalities in 2005 were males.

Email your Open for Business ideas to john.harrington@helenair.com.