The management teams of large companies like Columbia Gas of Massachusetts do not see every detail of the day to day operations of their companies. Fortunately, those companies have thousands of employees who are working for them every day who see every detail of their work. Those employees are a valuable source of information that managers can access to assess the performance of their company in many areas, including safety. Unfortunately, many safety complaints are not addressed by the management teams that receive them. Sometimes, the consequences remain within the company, with workers getting hurt or killed on the job. At other times, the unsafe conditions that come to the attention of workers that report them to management go on to cause disasters that hurt and kill many people and destroy large amounts of property.
In September 2018, a series of explosions and fires occurred in the Merrimack Valley as the result of excess pressure within Columbia Gas’s natural gas lines. One person died, twenty-five people were injured, and thousands of residents had to evacuate their homes. Officials entered each home and business to ensure that the gas supply was shut off and that there was no gas trapped inside the building. Gas and electric service remained shut off as the displaced residents waited to be allowed back into their homes. After several days, all area residents were back in their homes, and electric service had been restored. The restoration of gas service to the area required extensive work on the pipeline, which was completed several months after the disaster. During the time that gas service was unavailable, residents had to employ temporary solutions like cooking on hot plates, heating with electric space heaters, and going without hot water.
A few months before the explosion, an employee of Columbia Gas repeatedly warned the managers of the company that the company did not have enough employees to provide safe, reliable natural gas service within the company’s service area. The employee worked in the metering and monitoring department. As staff numbers in his department were cut, he realized that the company did not have enough human resources to adequately monitor the gas pressure in the pipelines throughout its service area. Bart Madeiros retired after his repeated attempts to have his safety concerns addressed went ignored. His testimony was critical in the recent federal case against his former employer.
Columbia Gas Company recently pled guilty to federal charges alleging that the company violated federal pipeline safety laws. Investigators report that the company not only failed to protect the safety of the public, but it also acted with disregard for public safety. Columbia’s company will sell its business in Massachusetts and pay fines of over fifty million dollars. Columbia is also subject to a separate settlement under which it must pay eighty million dollars to individuals who experienced loss and damage because of the explosion and the municipalities whose infrastructure was damaged by the explosion.
Conscientious employees like Bart Madeiros are powerful allies to companies who want to prevent accidents and catastrophes. The Mississippi Whistleblower Protection Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC support whistleblowers in their efforts to expose safety concerns, fraud, waste, and corruption. Call us today, at 1 (800) 707-9577 to arrange an initial consultation with the Mississippi Whistleblower Attorneys of Barrett Law PLLC.