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Navy disputes union
on shipyard hazards

'Does a guy need to die?'
workers' spokesman asks

By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The Navy is disputing union allegations that the recent series of industrial accidents at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard involving the Navy's nuclear submarine fleet are related and that the safety of workers is being jeopardized.

Ben Toyama, spokesman for the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, said the union has tried to raise the issue of safety during the past six months on various shipyard procedures, but the Navy has been unresponsive.

Toyama said that his union has 400 members who work in the shipyard.

"What does it take?" Toyama said. "Does a guy need to die before any changes are made?"

No 'safety stand down'

But Kathryn Petravage, spokeswoman for the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility, said that no "safety stand down" has been ordered by Capt. Jeffrey Conners, shipyard commander, to correct any significant problems, as was the case in September 1998 following three accidents involving nuclear subs.

Petravage said that the incidents involving a radioactive water leak on the USS Olympia on April 12 and an electrical fire on the USS Pasadena and an averted electrical maintenance problem on the USS Columbia on Tuesday are unrelated.

She said that in 1999 and so far this year, the shipyard has had no accidents that ended in a fatality, permanent total or partial disability or loss of property amounting to $200,000 to $1 million.

However, Pearl Harbor last year had 33 incidents and 12 so far this year that resulted in illness or injuries where a shipyard worker was forced to take leave or the damage ranged from $10,000 to $200,000.

Most of the 45 injuries were back or shoulder injuries suffered by people working in confined spaces using improper lifting techniques, Petravage said.

Asked about submarine accidents at the shipyard last year, Petravage reported only two -- both involving the USS Key West. Last summer, a staging plank buckled on scaffolding set up to work on the submarine's propeller.

The other Key West incident occurred in October, when welders inside an auxiliary tank were preheating a part using an oxy-acetylene torch, Petravage said. Gas testers found elevated levels of carbon dioxide in the tank and evacuated the workers.

She said the shipyard's "aggressive auditing and surveillance programs" prevent major accidents.

On Tuesday, Petravage added, the shipyard's safety procedures prevented a problem on the USS Olympia when the sub's crew and shipyard workers realized that one of its electrical panels had not been de-energized.

"Work did not commence until workers were certain that the panel was de-energized."

But Toyama maintained that the Navy was just lucky.

'We've just been lucky'

"It was a civilian electrician who caught the problem after a sailor had put 17 tags on the board indicating that it had been de-energized. ... The system doesn't work," Toyama said. "The electrician just happened to re-check the system."

In the case of the electrical fire on the USS Pasadena, the two sailors injured were electricians, Toyama said.

He said, in the past, civilian engineers would certify that a system had been shut down and was ready for maintenance work. Now, Navy sailors do that check.

Toyama acknowledged that so far the shipyard has not experienced any major incidents, but argued, "We've just been lucky there have been no major injuries."