Separate interviews with former BP employees back up the findings of the internal investigations.

Included in ProPublica’s report:

• BP’s internal 2001 report warned that the company faced a “fundamental culture of mistrust” by its workers, in part because senior management lacked a structure of accountability.
• The 2004 internal investigation stated, “Pressure on contractor management to hit performance metrics (e.g. fewer OSHA recordables) creates an environment where fear of retaliation and intimidation did occur.”
• Once again in 2007, a report echoed BP’s previous internal investigations, finding, BP pressured its contractors and employees to save money. “Many of the people interviewed indicate that they felt pressured for production ahead of safety and quality,” the report said.

The BP situation has caught the attention of OSHA head David Michaels, and he ties it to one of his predominant current themes about injury logs.

At the recent American Industrial Hygiene Conference in Denver, Michaels said he was struck by the fact that top executives at BP were on the offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico handing out certificates and awards to people for having worked seven years without a recordable injury, the very night before the rig blew up.

Michaels called for reforms that stop measuring safety performance by injuries or lack thereof, and instead start measuring risk of significant events occurring.

ProPublica’s article is here.

How do you encourage employees to let management know about hazards? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Christopher Dupree fell about 150 feet while painting a water tank in Hurtsboro, AL.

Paramedics tried to revive him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The local sheriff’s department said Dupree was suspended from a rope on top of the water tower and was wearing a harness, but it appeared there might have been some malfunction of the safety equipment that caused the fall. Dupree was one of three workers at the tank that day.

At first, Dupree’s wife sued her husband’s employer, a general contractor, the Russell County Water Authority and an engineering firm. However, the lawsuit was later amended to focus on Robinson and Sons Construction Services, because it was responsible for workplace safety on the project.

In closing arguments, the lawyer for Dupree’s wife asked jurors to return a verdict that would send a message to all employers that they must provide a safe working environment for employees.

Example: Taxi cab drivers. Right now in Pennsylvania, they’re considered independent contractors. A bill in the state legislature would change that.

Alex Friedman, secretary of the Philadelphia Taxi Association, a group that owns the medallions for about half of the cabs in the city, says they’re contractors.

“We do not pay them salary. We do not control their working hours. We do not tell them to go in certain routes. They are not our employees. We are not their employers,” Friedman told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Therefore we do not pay any workers’ compensation.”

Ronald Blount, who heads the Taxi Workers Association of Philadelphia, sees it differently. “We believe we’re misclassified,” he said. Blount said cab drivers can’t turn off the dispatch radio during their shifts to take a nap. There are monitors that track their every move. He calls that the type of control an employer exercises over employees.

In some places, such as San Francisco, taxi drivers are considered employees and are eligible for workers’ comp.

Here’s another reason why it matters to the cabbies: Driving a taxi is one of the nation’s most dangerous jobs. About 19 out of every 100,000 cab drivers died on the job in 2008.

Other cab drivers face life-altering injuries. Cabbie Ralph Rescigno was stabbed in the back one night by a robber. Both his lungs were punctured. In the hospital he suffered a stroke.

Rescigno is now wheelchair-bound and can’t speak. He doesn’t receive workers’ comp benefits.

Which factors should determine whether a worker is considered an employee and be eligible for workers’ comp? Are taxi drivers employees or contractors? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.

Regulations governing contractors’ safety responsibilities vary from state to state.

A New York Times article says, as a result, there are few penalties levied against contractors when guidelines are violated.

Why this is more important now than ever: The federal government has poured billions of stimulus dollars into state road construction. There will be a lot of road construction in the next few years.

And some of the contractors getting stimulus money to rebuild roads have been involved with fatal highway crashes.

Example: This year, Florida awarded a bridge-repair contract for $744,000 to Zep Construction of Fort Myers. The Times says Zep has a long history that includes work-zone safety done wrong.

Two years ago in Sarasota, while repairing a bridge on I-75, Zep used a rolling roadblock. In a properly run roadblock, police cruisers slow down traffic to 20 miles an hour.

But shortly after midnight on Oct. 1, 2007, traffic in this roadblock came to a halt in a blind spot where the speed limit was 70.

A tractor trailer wasn’t able to stop in time and plowed into a car driven by James Brashear with his 11-year-old son, Tyler, also on board. The crash killed Mr. Brashear instantly, his body wedged against his son’s lap. One other motorist was killed, and 10 others were injured.

The State Transportation Department cited Zep. The lawyer for Tyler’s mother said he believed the financial incentives for contractors to finish projects early and earn a bonus undermined safety.

Despite the crash and citation, Florida gave Zep 98 out of 110 possible points for the I-75 project — 89%, or roughly a B+.

Some of the companies didn’t disclose previous violations as required. Now the Massachusetts Highway Division is demanding written explanations from at least 7 companies awarded contracts as to why they didn’t reveal the violations on forms they submitted to obtain bidding approval for state projects.

The situation came to light after a review by the New England Center for Investigative Reporting at Boston University.

Example: Liddell Brothers of Halifax, MA, received a $2.6 million stimulus contract. OSHA had cited the company four separate times since 2007 for failing to provide cave-in protection for workers in trenches. Liddell paid $46,580 in OSHA fines.

Former OSHA administrator Charles Jeffress said companies with repeat or willful safety violations should not get state contracts. In 2007, Liddell was issued a willful violation.

Liddell attorney Robert Lizza said in an e-mail that because the company immediately abated the hazards, paid its fines and the issue didn’t progress to a formal proceeding, as stated in the application form, Liddell didn’t disclose the violations.

The key question on the form asks contractors to report “any civil, criminal, or administrative proceedings involving public contracts, safety, environmental laws, or regulations” for the previous 3 years.

The Highway Division’s administrator said it doesn’t have enough staff to verify the accuracy of the information provided by contractors. The agency has threatened to refer the contractors in question to the state attorney general’s office for making false claims on the applications.

What do you think? Should contractors be barred from receiving government contracts if they have been issued a willful safety citation in the previous 3 years? Does abatement wipe the slate clean? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Francisco Moreno Garcia died as the result of an incident at the ADM facility in Decatur, IL, when a waste compression system malfunctioned. He was insulating pipes 15 feet in the air when he was sprayed with steam and hot caustic chemicals.

He struggled to free himself from his harness and tumbled to the ground. Third degree burns covered 90% of his body.

He lived in excruciating pain for a day and a half before doctors decided there was nothing more they could do to save him.

Workers’ comp awarded $60,000 to Garcia’s family in Mexico. Most of that will be returned to an insurance company after the family receives payment from the jury trial.

In many workplace deaths, the family can’t sue because workers’ comp prohibits it – it’s the “exclusive remedy.”

But in this case, Garcia was working for a contractor, so the family could sue ADM. The jury award was one of the largest such judgments in Illinois history for a single man with no spouse or children.

Accident lawyer David Perecman put out a press release this week, Attorneys in New York Baffled at how Construction Related Deaths Continue to Occur. The statement is in response to the news that a 42-year-old working on a luxury apartment building fell to his death after a scaffold suddenly gave way.

The press release starts, “New York construction accident lawyers were left scratching their heads as they heard the news of a construction worker who died after falling four stories in Brooklyn, NY.”

The statement goes on to say, “New York construction accident lawyers like David Perecman continue to fight for more safety regulations on construction sites … there is a lack of proper safety precautions being taken on the job site.

“Until we ensure all bases are covered, like the proper equipment is available and people are trained appropriately, accidents like this won’t stop.”

What do you think about his point of view? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Dan Kavanaugh, vice president and general manager with Turner Construction Co. in Oregon, told the Daily Journal of Commerce, “Money is not the motivator. A fine doesn’t mean anything to us.”

Dan Johnson, vice president of operations for Sakanska USA, agrees. “If they raised fines, would that become a motivation? I’m thinking ‘no.’”

However, Johnson says higher fines could be big financial hits for small and mid-sized construction companies.

Oregon OSHA administrator Michael Wood realizes that the fines he’s proposing still wouldn’t have a significant impact on the largest companies.

Wood is considering setting the cap for the most severe violations at $7,000. Now, it’s $5,000.

When a state OSHA inspects a company after a fatality, even the $5,000 fines can add up.

Recently, Oregon OSHA announced penalties totaling $90,000 against ConAgra Foods and a company performing repairs at a ConAgra plant in connection with an incident in which a welder was killed.

Wood acknowledges that ConAgra’s portion of the fine, $65,000, won’t be a big hit for such a large company. Besides raising fines, he’s considering a sliding scale based on company size.

Do you think OSHA fines are real motivation for companies to improve their safety? Is it different for larger vs. smaller companies? Should fines be higher for larger companies? Let me know in the Comments Box below.

Last week, a worker was killed when he fell more than 20 stories from a high-rise construction site in Dallas.

Jose Aguila, 37, was installing metal louvers on the side of the building. A scaffold collapsed, and the worker’s safety harness failed, according to a report by NBC-5 in Dallas.

In June, OSHA announced an increase in construction-site inspections in Texas due to the high rate of worker fatalities and serious injuries.

Raleigh Roussell, with contractor organization TEXO, complains that some OSHA inspectors arriving at construction sites are transfers from other OSHA areas who don’t have construction experience. “The hazards are much different than those in a plant,” he said.

Personal injury attorney Mark Werbner is also critical of OSHA’s inspections, but for a much different reason.

Werbner says the agency is still far too easy on contractors and the fines for violations aren’t high enough.

What do you think? Let us know in the Comments Box below.

Jason Moyer, 39, was repairing an elevator in the Century Village retirement community at the time of the incident, according to the Palm Beach Post.

The elevator fell on Moyer while he was in the shaft. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Moyer was employed by Xpert Elevator Services. OSHA records show no previous action or investigations of the company.

The elevator in the retirement community failed a private inspection in February 2008. During a follow-up, the state Department of Business and Professional Regulation cited the owner of the elevator for not having a current license and told the owners they must show proof of a current inspection.

The widow of a worker killed in an explosion will receive $6 million as part of a settlement with the owner of a refinery.

Gary Szabla was one of two workers killed in the explosion at the Clark Oil Blue Island refinery in 1995.

The families of the two workers filed wrongful death lawsuits.

Clark argued that it was shielded from the lawsuit under the state’s workers’ comp statute.

However, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled that wasn’t the case because Clark didn’t directly employ the two men.

The lawsuit brought by the other worker’s family is also close to a settlement, according to The Southtown Star.

Clark was also fined $1.2 million by OSHA which cited dozens of violations of workplace safety rules.

Turbine mechanic John Summers was injured in a 2001 accident while repairing a leak on a hydrogen generator at an Entergy Gulf States plant. (Summers has since died from unrelated causes.)

Entergy’s workers’ comp policy covered Summers’ injuries.

In effect, the Texas Supreme Court has expanded the immunity against lawsuits that direct employers have to also cover contractors.

State legislators say that was not their intent when they passed the most recent workers’ comp law.

The Texas Association of Manufacturers has applauded the decision, saying this ruling helps keep the cost of doing business down.

On the other hand, the Texas AFL-CIO criticized the ruling, calling it judicial activism.

A bill currently under consideration in the Texas legislature would clarify that contractors aren’t included in the immunity from lawsuits because of the availability of workers’ comp insurance.