Both Massey Energy and Transocean were faulted for safety shortcomings in their respective coal and oil disasters this spring, but both also boast government-backed awards for safety commendations. "Worker safety advocates say the awards -- given, in some instances, to companies involved in disasters -- show the dangers posed when federal agencies become too cozy with the industries they regulate," Kimberly Kindy of The Washington Post reports. On April 29, West Virginia coal miners died in an explosion at a Massey mine, and 11 workers on a Transocean oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico died two weeks later in an explosion that began a record oil-well blowout.
"Shareholders and employees are told: 'The government thinks we are safe,'" Celeste Monforton, a former senior official at the Mine Safety and Health Administration and assistant research professor in occupational health at George Washington University, told Kindy. "It can potentially be used as a shield against criticism when problems arise." Massey won three Sentinels of Safety awards from MSHA and the National Mining Association just six months before the Upper Big Branch disaster. The since-renamed Minerals Management Service gave a 2009 Safety Award for Excellence to Transocean less than a year before the Gulf blowout.
Last week, the Labor Department, MSHA's parent agency, said Massey's injury data, upon which the awards are based, is inaccurate. "The department cited a Sept. 30 letter in which Massey told shareholders it has under reported injury data by as much as 37 percent," Kindy writes. Sentinels of Safety awards are given to mines that have no injuries for at least a year. Massey says it has since fixed the reporting errors but defended its awards. "Every day, coal miners get up before dawn to provide energy for our nation, and we see nothing wrong with the government recognizing those miners who do their jobs safely," Massey Vice President Shane Harvey told Kindy. (Read more)
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