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Dive Brief:
- Construction giant Bechtel has made the findings public and announced internal safety changes stemming from three fatalities at its Port Arthur, Texas liquefied natural gas project in April.
- The Reston, Virginia-based contractor identified seven major factors that contributed to the deaths of three workers who fell from an elevated platform in an open letter released this month by Craig Albert, president and chief operating officer, and Paul Marsden, president of the company’s energy division.
- “The purpose of sharing our findings is to promote transparency, accountability and learning, helping Bechtel, and the wider industry, to anticipate risks and act proactively on safety,” the letter says.
Diving knowledge:
Right after the April fatalities, Albert addressed the incident on his LinkedIn page, early indicating Bechtel’s intention to learn from it.
“Our safety culture has been a point of pride, built through thousands of actions over many decades,” he wrote. “After this heartbreaking event, we are committed to understanding exactly what went wrong and making sure we do everything we can to prevent it from happening again, at Bechtel or anywhere.”
Addressing workplace fatalities publicly, as Bechtel did in its public letter, is unusual but not entirely unprecedented, said Jim Frederick, principal of the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm NexusHSE and a former OSHA deputy assistant secretary under former President Joe Biden.
Sometimes, Frederick said, even sharing these findings within a company could pose challenges because of the nature of litigation arising from fatal events. He applauded Bechtel for publishing what he had learned.
“This is a refreshing way to share information. Ultimately, a learning culture can’t happen if you’re not open,” Frederick told Construction Dive.
Notably, Bechtel decided to publicly address the matter in a letter dated October 8, three weeks earlier. OSHA’s final deadline for issuing a citationwhat the agency has to do within six months of an initial inspection.
OSHA has not yet issued a citation publicly, at the time of publication. The deadline to do so remains even during the government shutdown, meaning if the agency doesn’t do so by then, the inspectorate can’t issue a subpoena, Frederick said.
On April 29, a crew of five was performing a formwork jump in elevation of the project. The task is to lift a multi-layer formwork system and place it higher in a tank.
At 1:44 a.m., the platform where the crew was standing gave way. Reginald Magee, Felipe Mendez and Felix Lopez Sr. they died, and two others were injured.
The company’s internal report found that a poorly connected stand made the platform unstable and susceptible to falling apart. Also, the three workers who died were wearing fall protection, but did not appear to have fall arrest lanyards attached to an approved anchor point, Bechtel said. The two injured workers had rope cords properly anchored.
Other findings in the letter indicate:
- The workers were not properly trained as they had not received a 30 minute lesson prepared by supervision of the formwork jumping system they were using.
- Experienced crew members or leadership were not physically present at the time of the incident to mitigate risks.
- Breach of a company policy where new crew members are mentored by veteran colleagues.
- Night work increased potential risk due to darkness, fatigue, reduced supervision, and visibility challenges.
- The company’s overall safety culture was not consistently applied.
To improve in the future, Bechtel outlined changes it will make for each factor, including stopping work until all employees receive proper training, mandating the presence of a foreman for tasks such as formwork jumping performed at the time of the incident, and efforts to reduce the “microcultures” that can develop in a large company to better ensure compliance with employer safety practices.
