The shoddy safety record of one Mississippi shipbuilder is getting a lot of attention lately, as the company continues to get awarded federal contracts over the objections of officials who have asked United States Navy to stop awarding contracts to companies with concerning job safety records. The company, VT Halter Marine Inc. recently got awarded millions of dollars in contracts by the NASA, the Coast Guard, the Navy, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even though the company got featured on PBS News Hour in February for being the subject of a Reveal investigation. The news story mentioned that the seven private shipbuilders that get contracts from the United States Coast Guard and the United States Navy get billions of dollars in contract work despite safety records that contain serious violations. The violations are so serious that the companies have gotten fined after employees have gotten hurt and, in some cases, killed.
Shipbuilding is dangerous work on its own, but proper work practices and a focus on safety can help companies that build ships do so safely and on a reasonable schedule. The shipbuilding industry just got a boost in the form of a mandate by President Trump to build more ships. Unfortunately, this increase in shipbuilding raises the question of how those ships will get built and how much attention will get given to worker safety in an industry that is already struggling to keep its workers from getting hurt on the job.There is certainly much cause for concern. Navy officials say enforcing workplace safety laws in private shipyards is not their job. Also, in March, Trump signed a resolution into law a resolution that overturned a rule that required companies bidding on large federal contracts to disclose their past safety violations as part of the process.
Unless the Navy actively chooses to stop contracting with businesses that have poor safety records and starts requiring firms to implement better worker safety practices, workers in the American shipbuilding industry could be at even greater risk. It is possible that the increased workloads that follow an award of a contract might cause management to be even more likely to place production as a priority over safety and to push their workers to produce more in less time. That pressure is something which in any work environment creates a safety risk because when employees are under pressure to produce, that’s when they cut corners with following safe work practices and try to work more quickly, increasing the risk of injury or death.
Barrett Law PLLC: Help for Injured Mississippi Workers and Their Families
Building ships is dangerous work. The injuries and deaths that occur in shipbuilding facilities change the lives of the families and individuals who are affected by them. The workplace injury claims process can be tough to understand, and claims take time and effort to pursue. A workplace injury attorney can help you with the work of pursuing a claim for damages after a workplace accident so that you can focus on healing from your injuries or your family can focus on recovering from their loss. If you got hurt in a shipbuilding accident or you lost a loved one in a shipbuilding accident, get help from a Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorney. Call the Mississippi Workplace Accident Attorneys at Barrett Law PLLC at 1 (800) 707-9577 to learn more.