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Five Ways To Improve Offshore Safety

The media has turned a sharp focus on offshore oil rig safety following the Transocean Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico last week and the loss of 11 employees, with countless other injuries and massive property and environmental damages.

This focus is long overdue. As an attorney who represents offshore employees on rigs, boats, and basically everything that floats, I have seen first hand more safety issues than I can count.

Although my clients are injured or killed offshore in all different sorts of accidents, there are certain patterns to maritime accidents that tend to occur over and over.

I offer the following five suggestions for improving offshore safety:

1. Reward workers for reporting safety violations, not just for going "X" number of days without an accident or near miss

Many companies reward employees if the rig has gone a certain amount of time without a "Lost Time Accident." Oddly enough, this can create the wrong incentive for reporting safety violations. If your boss is going to receive a safety bonus after 365 days of no Lost Time Accidents, and on Day 360 you see a safety violation that causes an injury, you will be extremely reluctant to report it considering that your boss's safety bonus will be affected.

2. Either create an agency specifically dedicated to offshore worker safety or make it crystal clear which federal agency is in charge of worker safety

Anyone who works offshore will tell you that there is no federal regulatory body specifically in charge of employee safety. The MMA, Coast Guard, and OSHA all have a role in employee safety, but as the saying goes, when everyone is in charge no one is in charge.

I would propose making it crystal clear which agency is in charge of worker safety or creating a new agency specifically dedicated to offshore worker safety.

3. Make accident statistics public

I cannot tell you how many offshore workers I have represented in cases where the company says no one else has suffered similar injuries only to find out later that in fact, multiple injuries at the company have gone unreported. In fact, I am currently representing a client in a case where two similar injury incidents went unreported. Fortunately we found some ex-employees to tell us the truth about the accident statistics.

Offshore companies should be required to report accident statistics publicly.

4. Pass a law prohibiting offshore companies from "blackballing" employees who are injured or who report safety violations

One of the most common issues I see again and again is offshore workers afraid of reporting accidents or safety violations for fear of being "blackballed" in the industry. The offshore industry is rather small in comparison to other industries, and way too many employees are scared to death of losing their job and not being able to find employment offshore if they report accidents, pursue legal claims, or report safety violations.

Current law prohibits companies from firing employees for reporting safety violations but these laws are weak. Those laws should be strengthened.

5. Raise the daily maintenance rate for injured offshore employees

Many people would be shocked to learn that if you are injured offshore, and you fall under the protections of the Jones Act, you are entitled to "maintenance" (i.e., a daily or weekly payment from the company while you are recuperating) but that the maintenance rate is usually only $15 - $45 dollars day.

An employee who is making $50,000 dollars or more who gets hurt offshore takes a huge financial hit if they report an injury and seek medical treatment when their employer is only willing to pay $15-$45 dollars / day, which in some cases works out to significantly less than the minimum wage.

Offshore workers are understandably reluctant to take such a massive cut in pay if they are injured. Sometimes, this results in going back to work before they are physically capable of working safely. A employee who is physically unable to perform what is often very demanding physical labor puts himself and his co-workers are risk of further injury.

I suggest mandating a substantial and long overdue increase in the daily maintenance rate, which has been basically the same range for decades.

About Brian Beckcom

Mr. Beckcom's firm represents injured offshore workers around the globe and is dedicated to providing information and guidance to the offshore community concerning legal and safety issues.

Mr. Beckcom's firm is monitoring the Transocean rig disaster carefully.