Official Denies OSHA Delayed Nassco Check

The local head of a U.S. safety agency Friday disputed claims by the National Steel & Shipbuilding Co. that agency officials rejected a request by the company that its representatives join federal inspectors on a thorough safety review of the shipyard, thereby delaying the inspection.

John Hermanson, head of the local federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration office, charged that it was Nassco officials who acted alone to block the safety inspection. However, Hermanson declined to say why Nassco decided to block the inspection, despite comments from company officials who continue to say that they are eager to cooperate with the inspection.

On Wednesday morning, before the citations were served on Nassco in the afternoon, the company allowed the OSHA inspection team in the shipyard, Hermanson said. “When we returned in the afternoon . . . they said they had some legal questions and asked us to wait. We went back the following morning and they wouldn’t let us in,” he said.

On Thursday, Fred Hallett, Nassco vice president and spokesman, said that the shipyard would not comply voluntarily with the inspection because the nine-person team of OSHA inspectors refused to allow company representatives to accompany them during the inspection. Instead of complying voluntarily, Nassco is forcing OSHA to obtain a federal court order for the inspection.

6 Killed, 6 Hurt in Fall

OSHA officials ordered the “wall-to-wall” inspection on Wednesday, following a six-month federal investigation of a crane accident at the shipyard that left 6 men dead and 6 injured on July 10 when a personnel basket fell 30 feet to a deck of a Navy ship. As a result of the accident, Nassco was cited Wednesday for 19 federal safety violations of the workplace and fined $62,800.

“We will be seeking to obtain a warrant early next week to conduct an inspection,” Hermanson said. “We have to get more affidavits together on exactly what transpired in the last couple of days.”

Meanwhile, union leaders charged that Nassco officials have been working furiously to remedy a host of problems at the shipyard. Manuel Ruiz, business agent for the Ironworkers Union, said that crews have been busy doing “massive cleanups” and clerical workers worked overtime during Christmas vacation to update records.

“Nassco was anticipating the inspection and has had office and yard workers preparing for it. It’s a shame that it took the deaths of six people and injuries to six others for OSHA to focus attention on Nassco, when we’ve been complaining about safety problems for years,” said Ruiz.

Disputed Another Claim

Hermanson also disputed Hallett’s claim that OSHA was unbending in Nassco’s request that its people accompany the federal inspectors.

“We always allow them to have representatives with our inspectors. We try to do everything we can to accommodate them. That’s not the issue, and frankly, I’m not sure why Nassco is taking this position,” Hermanson said.

Nassco officials announced Thursday they would contest some of the major violations and fines charged by OSHA. Hallett said that the company is partly basing its challenge on a OSHA letter that accompanied the citations.

The OSHA investigation of the accident found several things wrong with a 4-by-6 foot steel basket that carried the 12 men involved in the accident. But in the letter Hermanson said that “since no OSHA standard applies . . . no citation will be issued at this time.”

To Fight Citations

Since Hermanson said on the day the citations were issued that Nassco violated two federal safety standards by using the personnel basket, Nassco officials insisted that the letter showed that there really were no federal standards in place and said the company would contest the citations and fines.

On the one hand, Hallett said, OSHA was citing Nassco for violating federal standards relating to personnel baskets, but the agency was also telling the shipyard that no standards applied.

On Friday, Hermanson said that Nassco was twisting the information in the letter to suit its needs. Furthermore, Hermanson said that he explained to Hallett and Carl Hinrichsen, Nassco manager for industrial relations, the meaning of the letter and the two federal standards the company violated.

According to Hermanson, Nassco violated OSHA regulations forbidding the use of personnel baskets except in emergencies and a requirement that gangways be provided between ships. OSHA charged, and Nassco agreed, that if a gangplank had been provided from the Navy ship to a berthing barge, allowing workers access to the pier, the crane accident would not have happened.

Emergency Exception

As to standards forbidding the use of personnel baskets, Hermanson said that OSHA forbids workers to be transported on a load, including personnel baskets, or hooks attached to cranes. The only exception is in emergencies, when no safer means of transport is available, Hermanson said.

And when an emergency requires the use of a personnel basket, the company has to follow the safety standards set by the private American National Standard Institute, said Hermanson. On the night of the accident, the basket was used routinely and the institute’s standards were not followed, he added.

“In our investigation (of the July 10 accident), we did not come across an emergency situation. It’s true that there aren’t any OSHA standards that apply to personnel baskets, but when they’re used in emergency situations their use is enforced under OSHA’s general duty clause, which refers to the (institute’s) standards . . . The reason why we sent them the letter, and I explained it to Hallett and Hinrichsen, is to officially put them on notice that if they ever come across a situation again where a basket is used in an emergency they have to comply with the (institute’s) standards,” Hermanson said.